Leinster Rugby supporters know only too well that the December games in the Champions Cup can make or break the province's season.
The Blues suffered a miserable winter during Leo Cullen's first term in charge, losing their opening games against Bath and Wasps.
But the final nail in that season's European coffin was hammered in by French club Toulon who were victorious at home and in Dublin, in the back-to-back games.
Fast forward a year later and the boys in blue were knocking the turkey stuffing out of Northampton Saints home and away to bring some festive cheer to the Leinster faithful before continuing on and getting very close to another final.
This year the Blues have another tough winter challenge with a trip to Exeter Chiefs this Sunday before the Premiership leaders come to Dublin on the following week.
The Chiefs lead their league table by eight points so the injury update from Girvan Dempsey today was enough to warm the cockles.
"Thankfully we're in a good place. It's good to get back to Champions Cup rugby be and be near [to having] a full bill of health.
"Isa Nacewa is back training, Johnny Sexton, Robbie Henshaw, Dan Leavy...so yeah thankfully we're in a good place. Hopefully all the guys get through training today and then [we'll] make a selection decision from there."
Is there hope Robbie will be ready for the weekend following the hamstring complaint he suffered with on Ireland duty? "Yeah...yeah."
The Blues coach was even more positive about Sexton whom he declared as 100% fit to train and available for selection for the trip to England.
Apart from the long term injury absentees, the only real concern is the newly capped Ireland international lock James Ryan whose shoulder will be assessed as the week progresses.
The other boon for the coaching staff this week was that returning trio; Garry Ringrose, Mick Kearney & Josh van der Flier all came through the weekend win at Benetton without any issues.
In particular, the return of Ringrose is a huge lift for the province after being without the Ireland international's services since before the start of the season following his shoulder operation in July.
"[He] didn't have a huge amount of sessions leading into the game so," Dempsey said at Leinster HQ this afternoon, "So, it's important to try and get the combination together. Himself and Noel Reid, I thought, did well in the midfield. Defensively he looked strong, he looked organised, confident in his shoulder. He took his try well. I thought he was quite sharp. It was really important to get him back on the field and get him up to speed with our attack and defensive systems, in order to get him ready for this weekend."
And Ringrose's approach to the Monday morning analysis sessions would seem to lighten the load of his bosses!
"He was pleased [with his performance against Benetton]. He's very self-critical so he would have been straight in this morning, going through video and talking up the bits he felt he could have been better on.
"He's the ultimate pro and he's constantly striving to be better and better and better which is brilliant but overall the coaches were very pleased with his performance."
