As a result Leinster, currently third in the RaboDirect PRO12, have dropped into the Challenge Cup but with silverware at stake and the final at the RDS, Schmidt claims his side are giving their all to go all the way, claiming his forwards need to give fly-half Ian Madigan the platform to perform against Wasps.
"A European trophy is a European trophy. It's maybe not the one we initially would have liked but it's still one we'd dearly love to win now," Schmidt, whose side lost their first RaboDirect PRO12 match since December last time out, against Ulster, told the Irish Independent.
"The key will be the quality of our ruck ball. Because we know that the quality of Ian's passes are up to it, we would be pretty confident that we could see a little bit more fluency than last weekend where Ulster, to be fair, were better than us."
Captain Leo Cullen also demanded improvements from their performance against Ulster, adding: "We didn't have much line-speed at any time during the game and we didn't really put any pressure on Ulster or close them down.
"Ulster have got some good ball-carriers, but I think it was a knock-out effect from our lack of aggression in the first place. It's something we'll hopefully be able to bring this week."
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