The Blues were hammered in the RaboDirect Pro 12 clash against Glasgow last Friday evening. Just hours later star centre Gavin Henson was involved in an incident on the flight home which ultimately led to his sacking as a Blues player.
Just when things couldn’t get worse, Wales centre Jamie Roberts was ruled ruled out for six months through injury.
“We are not going there to make up the numbers or to make the match a good spectacle – we are going there to try our hardest to win the game,” said Burnell.
“It will be a massive occasion at the Aviva Stadium in front of a huge crowd against the big boys in Europe – if not the team in Europe – so it couldn’t be much bigger than this.
“Leinster play with a lot of continuity. They have some fantastic pace out wide and a great pack of forwards. They are a bit of an all-round package and we expect a tough encounter.
“However, hopefully we can manage to slow their ball down and upset them in certain aspects of their game.
“And when you look at our performances in the matches at Racing Metro this season and in the 2010 Amlin Challenge Cup final against Toulon, there is no reason why we can’t go to Dublin, perform and win the game.”
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