as eight teams prepare to battle it out for a place in the semi finals of this season's european rugby champions cup, sportsmail's nik simon gives us a run down of each of the sides left in the competition leinster vs bath  strengths  fronted by captain jamie heaslip, leinster are armed with international experience and had 11 players in the ireland squad who beat england last month bath's qualities are channeled through their attack, with mike ford giving the likes of england backs george ford, jonathan joseph and anthony watson a licence to play with flair weaknesses  poor league form has stunted leinster's season, with the dublin side currently fifth in the pro12 competition after winning just one of their last five fixtures bath are short of experience in some key positions, particularly their up and coming backline dangermen  leinster: sean o'brien bath: jonathan joseph  record  leinster: champions 2008 09, 2010 11, 2011 12 bath: champions 1997 98  leinster's jamie heaslip is tackled by wasps' sailosi tagicakibau at the rds arena in october 2014  bath's jonathan joseph runs with  the ball during an open training session at the farleigh house complex  clermont vs northampton  strengths  the stade marcel michelin is a fortress, with clermont not having lost a european game in the massif central since a 32 15 defeat by sale in 2008 saints' jim mallinder has one of the most settled groups in the aviva premiership, boasting a strong core of squad players who maintain consistently high standards weaknesses  the top 14 side were left with a worrying injury list after the six nations, with france backs morgan parra, camille lopez and wesley fofana among those missing saints try to play on the edge with enforcers such as dylan hartley and calum clarke, however discipline has previously tipped over the edge in big games dangermen  clermont: napolioni nalaga northampton: courtney lawes  record  clermont: runners up 2012 13 northampton: champions 1999 00, runners up 2010 11  forward courtney lawes passes the ball during a training session for nothampton on wednesday  clermont's fiji winger napolioni nalaga charges forward with the ball for clermont at the michelin stadium  racing metro vs saracens  strengths  racing are flush with money, investing heavily in overseas players such as jonathan sexton, jamie roberts and, as of next season, dan carter as well as their famous 'wolf pack' defence, saracens pride themselves on the set piece and use the scrum and line out as dangerous attacking weapons weaknesses  the nouveau riche parisian outfit are inexperienced at knockout european rugby, having never progressed from the group stages before this season mark mccall's suffered heartbreak against toulon last season and must show more mental fortitude to better their defeat in last season's final dangermen  racing metro: jamie roberts saracens: billy vunipola  record  racing: first time in knockout saracens: runners up 2013 14  saracens' billy vunipola releases the ball during the aviva premiership match against harlequins at wembley  toulon vs wasps  strengths  funded by tycoon mourad boudjellal, the cote d'azur club have invested heavily to create the world's most star studded squad since relocating to coventry, wasps have been driven on by the powerful back row of james haskell, ashley johnson and nathan hughes, though hughes is suspended for kneeing george north in the head weaknesses  toulon are in danger of having too many players to choose from, depriving some squad members of the chance to build up consistency dai young has the opposite problem at wasps, who are not blessed with the same depth and could struggle to fill the void left by hughes' three week ban dangermen  toulon: mathieu bastareaud wasps: christian wade  record  toulon: champions 2012 13, 2013 14 wasps: champions 2003 04, 2006 07  james haskell receives a pass during wasps' open training session at the twyford avenue sports ground  christian wade dives to score a try for warsps during the aviva premiership match against northampton 
sunday april 4 5 the european rugby champions cup saturday
eight teams are left to battle for a place in the semi finals of the european rugby champions cup  sportsmail takes a look at their strengths, weaknesses, key players and record in the competition up until now  the quarter finals will be played over saturday and sunday april 4 5 