TOULOUSE HAVE THE best player in the world on their team so it’s easy to begin fixating on the reasons Leinster might not win the Champions Cup final this Saturday.
But within the walls of their training centre in Dublin this week, Leinster will be reminding themselves of their own qualities as they prepare for battle at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in Dublin.
There are many reasons for Leo Cullen’s men to believe. They’ve beaten Toulouse well in the past two Champions Cup campaigns, scoring five tries in last year’s 41-22 victory and notching four when they won 40-17 back in 2022. Both games were in Dublin but there was no doubt about Leinster’s superiority.
There’s the fact that the Irish province dethroned back-to-back champions La Rochelle on a dominant 40-13 scoreline last month before beating Northampton in the semi-finals.
That semi-final clash at Croke Park ended up being tight but Saints have been the best team in England all season. They’re an excellent side who deserved respect beforehand and earned more of it by nearly pulling off a comeback. Still, Cullen’s side were good enough to beat them.
And while some will understandably perceive Leinster’s back-to-back final defeats to La Rochelle as a weakness, surely it’s better to have been there involved on the biggest day in club rugby and learned from the bitterness of defeat. Those games were decided on slim margins and Leinster must feel better equipped to edge it this time.
Toulouse have recent final pedigree, to be fair, pinching the Top 14 title from La Rochelle’s grasp in the dying minutes last season, while they won their fifth Champions Cup title in 2021.
Leinster will surely take confidence from having two such key players as James Ryan and Hugo Keenan fit again in time for the final. They’re part of a big group of players who have won the Grand Slam with Ireland, some of them doing so in 2018 and 2023.
The likes of Dan Sheehan, Robbie Henshaw, Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Tadhg Furlong, Andrew Porter, and James Lowe are also proven forces at the highest level of the game.
And then there’s the brilliant Jamison Gibson-Park, who will be opposite the sublime Antoine Dupont.
“It’s very easy when you look at the opposition you’re playing, you forget who is playing in blue as well,” says Leinster assistant coach Robin McBryde.
“You know what they are looking at when they’re looking at us. We’ve got to keep on reminding ourselves of that this week and fire a few shots of our own.”
McBryde is the man in charge of Leinster’s forwards and he sees reasons for confidence in their strengths up front, even against a heavy, powerful Toulouse pack.
“Experience, they don’t take anything for granted,” says McBryde of Leinster’s qualities up front.
“Big match players, cohesion, the level of quality in training. The growth that I’m consistently seeing from season to season, game to game whatever, there’s no ceiling on this group.
“If you match that with our experience, it’s a great place to be.”
One man who wasn’t involved when these teams met last year was Leinster lock Joe McCarthy, who was on the way back from injury and had yet to establish himself as a frontliner for Leinster anyway.
23-year-old McCarthy has been excellent this season, becoming a first-choice player for Leinster and Ireland.
“He’s not trying to be anybody else and you can see that in the way he’s playing,” says McBryde.
“There’s a uniqueness about him, he’s a handful in several different aspects of the game and you encourage the players to be… ‘what’s your point of difference?’ You’ve got to celebrate it really, back each other up and trust each other.
“It heightens your awareness as well if somebody’s carrying the ball as well as he does, you’d want to probably be on his shoulder waiting for an offload.”
With Ryan, Keenan, and flanker Will Connors – a starter in the two wins over La Rochelle this season – all back from injury in last weekend’s URC defeat to Ulster, Leinster have had their selection options notably improved, even if doubt remains over centre Garry Ringrose.
Leinster went for a 6/2 bench split against La Rochelle before reverting to a 5/3 for the clash with Northampton, so that will be an interesting call for Cullen and co. this week.
McBryde admitted it meant a tough selection meeting for the final but the Welshman certainly appears to be in calm form this week.
It would be easy for desperation to slip into Leinster camp given that they’ve lost the last two finals, but anyone looking for a soothing word can turn to McBryde.
“Everybody’s different,” he says. “Sometimes losing and winning doesn’t determine how happy I am. I’m happy, I know my face doesn’t give a lot away! You’d prefer to win obviously but I enjoy going through the process.
“Yeah, we didn’t win the final on the last two occasions but I still look back on those two finals and did I enjoy it? Yeah, I enjoyed those finals.
“I know we lost but if you’re going to hinge the happiness or quality of your life on winning all the time, everybody’s different. That doesn’t really bother me.
“If we get a win, that will be the icing on the cake. We’ve still done the same journey, still put the same hours of work in.
“We need to learn the lessons and perform on Saturday. That’s the most important thing really – that we turn up, perform, believe in ourselves, give it a good crack.”
