O’Driscoll sustained a knee injury in Ireland’s final RBS 6 Nations encounter with Scotland last week with early fears suggesting the skipper could be out for up to six weeks.

Gordon D’Arcy also suffered a groin strain as Ireland’s last game at Croke Park ended in a 23-20 defeat thanks to a last minute penalty from Dan Parks.

But Cheika is confident his first choice centre pairing will be fit for the Heineken Cup holders clash – with D’Arcy potentially back a week earlier.

“With Brian we’re targeting his return for Clermont and Gordon is pretty confident that after a five or six day rest that he could play against Munster (next week),” said Cheika.

“I wouldn’t be negative about it, I’m a big believer in the power of positive thought.

“We’ll take it a step at a time, but we are working backwards from that match and we’ve got a good plan.”