It’s become somewhat of a customary sight to see Dan Leavy leave a game after 80 minutes with a blood stained bandage strapped around his forehead.
The Leinster flanker is quickly rivaling former England defender Terry Butcher for his claret stained performances but he’s also now rivaling the very best flankers in the world for his outstanding displays.
The 23-year-old emerged from a first-half ruck with blood running down his forehead which is about a tell tale sign as any that he’s thrown himself into a game with reckless abandon.
Leavy led Leinster in both carries (17) and tackles (17) on a day where metres were at a minimum and contact was at a maximum, but it was his contribution when Racing were pressing in the Leinster 22 that was maybe the most telling.
With Racing advancing deeper and deeper into the Leinster half Leavy managed to rip the ball out of a ball carriers hand before then diving into the base of a Racing ruck to claim a loose ball and a turnover a few phases later.
Butcher earned a reputation with England for putting his head where most players wouldn’t put their feet and Leavy is developing a similar reputation with Leinster.
Isa Nacewa may have sealed a fourth European Cup final win for Leinster with the match winning penalty but Leavy was once again one of the club’s best in a game where his brand of unrelenting physicality was desperately needed.
Whether it was diving at loose balls, helping take Teddy Thomas over the line for a Leinster line-out minutes before Nacewa’s match sealing penalty or diving at the legs of Leone Nakarawa in the dying minutes, Leavy was everywhere Leinster needed him to be.
He represents one of the many Leinster players in this Champions Cup winning squad that far outweighed their own expectations.
Jordan Larmour started the season hoping to earn a couple of Leinster senior caps and he ended the season as a Grand Slam winner and the starting winger in a Champions Cup final winning team.
James Ryan had never played a senior game for Leinster before this campaign and he ended the season as one of the best forwards in Europe.
Leavy was the third choice flanker behind Sean O’Brien and Josh van der Flier in September and he ends his season as possibly the best player in his position and the province’s fans’ and players’ player of the year.
Sean O’Brien may return next season and force Leavy to the opposite side of the scrum, or vice versa, but it’s hard to see anyone displacing the 23-year-old from Leinster’s pack. Not when he’s had this many standout performances.
His confidence is at an all-time high and rightfully so.
He announced himself to the Irish public on Saint Stephen’s Day with a man of the match performance against Munster at Thomond Park and less than six months later and he’s one of Leinster’s best performers on their biggest day in Bilbao.
Leinster leaned on the experience of Johnny Sexton, Isa Nacewa and Scott Fardy throughout the final but once again it was the exuberance of Leavy, Ryan and Henshaw that provided the newly crowned champions with a physical presence that Racing brought in spades.
The 2018 Champions Cup final was far from a classic, and was not exactly a brilliant advertisement of top-tier rugby for the locals, but European Rugby as a brand was not exactly Leinster’s primary concern heading to Spain’s Basque country.
Leinster were there to claim a fourth European star to cap off a season where they’ve produced more stars of their own for the future.
The age profile of their young cohort should set the province up for many seasons to come, but as promising as the future may be for the club, and it is exceptionally bright, the future is now.
It has just presented itself in the form of a blood stained flanker with a smile and his hands raised in victory.
A sight we could see more of in the years to come.
