FOR THE THIRD year running Leinster are off to the Champions Cup final, although the province made hard work of overcoming a stubborn Northampton Saints side on Saturday evening in Croke Park.
Having expended so much energy in toppling old foes La Rochelle in the quarter-final stages last month there was always a danger the province would struggle to hit the same heights in the semi-finals.
Initially, it was all going swimmingly in front of over 82,000 at Croke Park. Early in the second half the province were 20-3 up and seemingly on course for a comfortable victory. Yet over the next half hour the Premiership side clawed their way back into the contest with two converted tries as Leinster flirted with throwing away another 17-point lead. When full-time mercifully arrived, the sense of relief which washed over the ground was palpable.
“Happy to get over the line, nervy ending, but I suppose we kinda parked it and enjoyed the occasion because we hadn’t really been able to soak much of it in,” said hooker Rónan Kelleher.
You’re playing at Croke Park, it’s obviously a massive occasion for so much of this group, who would have grown up playing Gaelic football.”
Kelleher was sent into the action with 52 minutes on the clock, shortly after James Lowe’s hat-trick try pushed Leinster 17-points to the good. Then came the Saints surge, tries from George Hendy and Tom Seabrook – both converted by Finn Smith – trimming the deficit to just three points.
It could have been worse for Leinster. Northampton were left frustrated after failing to execute from some promising positions, but Leo Cullen’s men also came up with some big defensive moments as their visitors threatened to turn the screw.
“You’re looking for dead-stops. Try to buy a bit of time in the tackle and then hopefully get your defensive line set,” Kelleher explained.
“But what they are really good at is shifting the point of contact, and keeping the ball alive with offloads or whatever. So, it was tough, but I think it just goes to show the quality of their attack.
“I suppose a big thing when that [Northampton pressure] happens is trying to get the ball back and when you do, don’t cough it up cheaply, which we potentially did on one or two occasions, and that just allowed them attack.
We know they are an unbelievably good attacking team so we paid the price for that in that purple patch for them.”
In the end Leinster survived and Leo Cullen has indicated the province will field strong teams in their URC games against Ospreys and Ulster, with the trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium looming in the background.
Garry Ringrose is the only Spurs fan in the group, with Kelleher himself a West Brom supporter – making the trip over to The Hawthorns twice.
“It came from my dad. Why he supported them I don’t know. It’s a different world over there, class. I haven’t been over there in years though.”
It promises to be another special occasion as Leinster look to win the competition for the first time since 2018, with five-time champions Toulouse standing in their way. The French side are back in the final for the first time since 2021, while Leinster will be competing in their fifth final in seven years – losing the last two deciders at the hands of La Rochelle.
“We’ve learned a lot about ourselves over the last few finals,” said winger Jordan Larmour. “Just about being in the moment when things aren’t going to plan.
“You can get a bit frantic and we’ve learned to use that, to try and get back to neutral, to try and get on the same page again. Talk about what’s going on – I think that’s something we’ve really grown as a group in doing. Handling the chaos, coming in a circle and realising what’s happening, saying it out loud so that we can get back on the same page. If we need to fix something up, we can do that.
It’s going to be our third final in a row. We haven’t won one in a while, so we’re going to do everything we can to do it.”
“So much work has gone in all year, the last three years really,” added Kelleher. “So it is just making sure that we put our best foot forward in the final, leave no stone unturned and give ourselves the best opportunity of winning that final.
“Those experiences have really stood to us. We learned a lot of lessons and you probably saw some of them in that La Rochelle game in the quarters and just for us as a group that experience has been really good.
“As tough as it was to go through, it has really stood to us now.”
The hurt of previous finals will fuel Leinster going into the decider, but managing that pressure will also form an important part of their preparations.
“You have that feeling of losing and you just don’t want to feel it again,” said Larmour.
It drives you on a bit. But it doesn’t really come into your thinking, for me anyway, what happens if we lose. It’s more just focusing on the job at hand.
“The worst thing you can do is go out into a final and not fire any shots and go into your shell a little bit.
“That’s something we’ve talked about as a group, not going into our shell, backing what we’ve done, the prep during the week, how hard we train, the detail the coaches give us. If you focus on all that stuff, then the result takes care of itself.”
