THIS IS ONE of those weeks where it would be fascinating to get a proper look behind the curtain at Leinster’s training base in UCD.
Last weekend the province dropped out of the URC title race with a semi-final defeat to Munster at Aviva Stadium. The group involved in that 16-15 loss will have been bitterly disappointed as they made their way to the Monday morning review, while another group – those held in reserve for this weekend’s Heineken Champions Cup final date with La Rochelle – retain a laser focus on what is now the province’s final game of the season.
This is, without any doubt, the big one. Andrew Porter makes that as clear as possible when asked if there is any danger of the frustrations from the Munster defeat bleeding into the La Rochelle build-up.
“It was frustrating, more for the lads who were playing,” Porter says. “It’s disappointing but we’ve got something else to look forward to now so it’s not the end of our season just yet.
“It’s obviously incredibly tough to not let it seep into the week that it is. It is an incredibly special and important week but the coaches have been great in terms of moving on from the weekend and focus on the next job at hand.
To be honest, it’s a bigger job now. It’s about getting that fifth (Champions Cup) star on the jersey. You don’t see many URC or PRO14s or whatever you have on the jersey. You see those stars that are on the jersey so that’s the thing we are looking forward to the most this week.”
Porter has plenty of experience against La Rochelle so knows exactly what to expect this Saturday. He played 63 minutes as the starting loosehead in last year’s final and 24 minutes as the replacement tighthead in the 2021 semi-final meeting between the two sides.
“We’ll be looking at that (last year’s final) as a blueprint nearly as what to do and what not to do and I would say they would be doing the same. ‘How do we beat Leinster? Oh, probably the same as we did last year?’
“They have definitely come on as a team since that final but so have we. I look at that game as more of a mental reminder than a tactical thing. I will obviously do a lot of my homework on their more recent games but I am always reminded of that game.
“The scrum (is key), your setpiece in general because with guys as big as that they can get a scrum or a maul motoring fairly quickly.
“It’s not just about that though. It’s about being technical around the park in terms of your tackling because you can’t go high on these boys. You have to go low or they’ll steamroll you. It’s just about being technically great in all areas, especially in a final against a team like La Rochelle. You are coming up against a team with very few chinks in their armour but it is up to us to go and find them.”
The Munster defeat aside, Leinster arrive at this final is sublime form – their Champions Cup side easily seeing off Ulster, Leicester and Toulouse on their march through the knockout stages.
Toulouse were expected to provide a stronger test in the semi-finals but struggled to live with Leinster’s tempo and accuracy as their discipline proved costly. While La Rochelle boast some similar qualities to Toulouse – a powerful pack, explosive talents in the backline – they will also ask different questions of this Leinster team.
“They have an incredible pack,” Porter continues. “They have the size and then they have the athletic ability to back it up as well so they’re not just brute force. They are handy around the park and incredibly skilled players.
“The centre, (Ulupano) Seuteni, gis signing this year, he has done very well as a distributor. They have come on even more since last year, even more of a threat in the pack and the same old forward pack busting up and running around you.”
The general consensus is that Leinster have come on, too – more accurate, more clinical, and holding the added bonus of this being a home final. The group would also love to send Stuart Lancaster out on a high, with the Leinster senior coach packing his bags for Paris this summer.
Porter goes all the way back to Lancaster’s first season in Dublin seven years ago, and a conversation that helped the former St Andrew’s pupil become one of the best props in the world.
“I remember when he first came in. I think I was about 128 kilos and I was in his office one day and he was like, ‘right, if you can do my sessions then that’s fine but you are going to struggle’ – and I did. He made me find my fighting weight in terms of getting it down to a level that I could compete and maintain during his sessions because they were tough and still are, to be fair.
“It was a lot of that and then the mental side as well, leadership. He has given so many talks on leadership and I am sure you have seen that he has done seminars and the likes of that as well so he is an incredible leader for this club, but he also empowers the players to become leaders and nearly make himself as little involved as possible because he wants it to be player-led.
“That’s what he is great at, giving players the voice to basically have an opinion on whatever matter it is.
He gives players the chance to lead the team and have a team of leaders rather than just one or two central figures in it.”
Porter now works at around 114-116kgs, with his athleticism one of his strongest attributes – playing 70 minutes or more five times for club and country this season.
Another big shift will be required against Uini Atonio, Will Skelton and Co this weekend.
“You’re never going to get a huge scoreline in a final so it is definitely going to be a close one,” Porter adds.
“(Playing La Rochelle again), it’s something that has been written since the start of the season, since that loss in Marseille. I couldn’t see a more fitting way to end the season than with a battle like this.
“It will be an incredibly tough game. We know what La Rochelle will bring and we will look at last year and those defeats and use them to our advantage, use that hurt. Bottle it up for about a year and then put in a performance this week.”
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