AS LEINSTER SENT a shadow squad down to South Africa for back-to-back URC games, Dan Sheehan jumped at the chance to enjoy a week off.

The all-action Leinster hooker was part of the group afforded a break on the back of the province’s Champions Cup quarter-final defeat of La Rochelle, and used the time to switch off completely from the demands of pro rugby.

“I went down to Connemara with a couple of my mates and played a bit of golf, took it handy for a couple of days and just sort of recharged the batteries and went again,” says Sheehan, who is now relishing the prospect of getting back to it against Northampton Saints this weekend.

“I felt ready to go, bouncing back in and couldn’t wait to get back stuck in.”

The 25-year-old is by now firmly established as a key figure for both club and country, his importance underlined by his recent promotion to a first IRFU central contract. Yet away from the pitch Sheehan is able to tune out the noise and pressures of his day job.

His teammate Robbie Henshaw recently described Leinster’s pursuit of a fifth Champions Cup title as an ‘obsession’, but Sheehan is more relaxed in his approach. 

No, I’m not obsessed. I feel like I’m quite good personally about coming in and out of rugby.

“When I’m off, I’m off. It doesn’t rattle through my mind at night or when I’m at home, which I think for me is really important.

“I think some lads maybe in the past have been up here the whole time and then it’s impossible to keep your energy levels of rugby the whole way through the week up in the top range, and then having to go perform on a Saturday when you’re drained from the week.

“So we talk about when we’re on, we’re on, and then take your time off, enjoy the week. There’s 40 lads in the dressing room, have the craic, enjoy being part of the club in the dressing room, and when we’re on, we’ll put our heads to the wall and we really go for it, but make sure you’re enjoying the time.”

Sheeha Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

This certainly feels like one of those weeks that is there to be enjoyed. While Northampton will be no pushover in Croke Park tomorrow, the opportunity to lace up in front of over 80,000 supporters at the home of the GAA should be an occasion to savour.

“Yeah, it is huge for the club. It is hugely exciting for us to go to such a special place like that, where rugby hasn’t been played for a while, to have it sold out with 82,000 people, it is going to be immense.”

Initially there were reservations about whether Leinster would fill the ground – with Leo Cullen making a point of discussing pricing before the ticket details were confirmed – but every seat was quickly snapped up the day the game went on general sale. It’s a remarkable feat to get over 80,000 to a club game and Leinster are now determined to give those supporters a day to remember in Drumcondra.

“We can’t really get carried away. We talked about [how] a crowd will only come alive on the back of a performance and we can’t rely on a performance just coming on the back of 82,000 people showing up. So we are focussed on how we start the game, on how we can get the crowd on our side, the majority being Leinster and feeding off the energy Croke Park can give you.

We talked a little bit about how you can’t get consumed by the idea of this big stadium with all this history and stuff but definitely we might be able to feed off it, get some of the energy back if performance starts well on Saturday.”

Leinster last won this competition in 2018 but look well placed to end the drought this year. The La Rochelle performance was a real statement, Jacques Nienaber’s aggressive defensive system shutting down their French opponents as Leinster’s scintillating attack ran in five tries.

The challenge now is to repeat the trick tomorrow, and book a place in the 25 May London final.

“We didn’t talk any further than that La Rochelle game, we beat them, everything was put into that then we quickly turned the page to Northampton. That was by no means our final but it was a must-win to get to the next stage. 

“We have been good this year at making sure we are not getting ahead of ourselves. We have been in the past where we have come up short, probably looking too far ahead or maybe getting too complacent in either URC or Champions Cup so it’s just important. It’s nice to have the two weeks to really hone in on Northampton, who we haven’t seen in a few years.”

Leinster feel they are now fully in tune with Nienaber’s system, and it promises to be an intriguing battle against Northampton’s impressive attacking game.

“It obviously takes a while, bringing in such a new system with Jacques. Coming off the back of the World Cup it did take a while, but we were fully aware that it was always going to take a while.

“So we’re getting to a point now where we’re fully bought into it and I think everyone believes in it, 100%. Then it’s just how well you can execute it and stay on top of the little things, evolving in our defensive system.

“But, yeah, we’re going to have to be properly on our game defensively to make sure we keep them at arm’s length and really put them under pressure and make them experience maybe something they haven’t experienced this season.”