The more you win the easier it becomes but the longer a team goes without victory the more difficult it seemingly becomes for them to get back to the place that once brought them so much success.
Cian Healy and Johnny Sexton are the only Leinster players in today’s team to face the Scarlets that started in the 2009 Heineken Cup final win over Leicester.
Leinster went on to win another two Heineken Cups over the next three years after their maiden win in the competition but have since failed to make it back to the final of European Rugby’s biggest stage since their last European Cup win over Ulster in 2012.
Sexton will captain the club for Saturday’s game at the Aviva and he said that the competition has become tougher over the last few seasons with the French clubs treating the tournament with a greater level of seriousness.
“When you are in the midst of winning three previous success that we have had you think it will be plain sailing every year,” said Sexton.
“Every year you win it you think it is easier and easier but every year you don’t have it it seems to get harder and harder.
“It’s a tough competition to win especially with the French teams over the last number of years taking it seriously and wanting to win it. We want to get back to a final. That’s our main focus at the minute.”
The captaincy will give Sexton a greater responsibility over his side this weekend and it will also give him the right to speak freely with match referee Romain Poite, not that he ever needed much of a formal invitation.
The Ireland fly-half said that he was disappointed with how he handled himself in his dealings with Jérôme Garcès in the win over Saracens earlier this month but that leading the team is something he’s enjoyed when he’s been asked to do so with Leinster or with Ireland.
“It’s a still a work in progress for me,” added Sexton.
“When I’m not captain you don’t have that responsibility of talking to the ref but at times in the heat of battle it can get on top of you.
“You probably saw that in the Saracens game I probably let myself down a bit in terms of, you know, getting a bit angry or agitated by some the stuff that is happening.
“Or maybe a decision I see because I am close to it or I know it it wrong. It’s just about biting your tongue.
“Now I’ve a responsiblity to speak to him in the right way. Like I said, it’s something I’ve had a handful of chances to do with Leinster this year.
“I’ve done it when Rory [Best] has gone off for Ireland. It is something I’ve enjoyed but not something I’m overly burdened about.”
Sexton is in year 12 of his professional rugby career and he’s had a lot of time to reflect on some of the harder losses during his time in the sport, some wins too joked Leo Cullen.
Sexton said at a recent Leinster Supporters event that last year’s PRO12 semi-final defeat to the Scarlets was Leinster’s worst performance of the season, but as they prepare for another semi-final with the PRO12 champions there’s only so much they can draw from preparation and experience. Sometimes it’s down to just making plays.
“There’s lots of results that have pissed me off,” Sexton replied when asked where the Scarlets defeat last year ranked among the worst losses of his career.
“I don’t know, you just look at the match-ups. A lot of that stuff is irrelevant in my eyes. Scarlets, we’ve so much respect for, a very well-coached team since Wayne Pivac has come in there, obviously he’s been hotly-tipped for the Wales job. That’s what we’re up against.
“People didn’t really, they weren’t talking about Scarlets this time last year in the same way they are now because of what they’ve done since.
“They’ve come across to the RDS in the semi-final and, even after having a player sent off, with 14 men. They started the game well and they’re very difficult to play against when they have a lead. How you start a game against them is very important.
“Wayne Pivac has brought in Stephen Jones and you can see the influence he has, Byron Hayward as well, they’re very well-organised, attack and defence. They stick to certain things they do very, very well and they’ve probably got a little bit better from last year if anything because they’re doing the same things that bit more efficiently.
“They go on obviously from the semi-final last year and play Munster and everyone goes ‘oh Munster will learn from Leinster’s lessons the week before’ and it turns our the scoreline blows out even more in that game, to the point where every time they had the ball they looked like they were going to score a try.
“That’s how dangerous they were – and it was in the wet. So they are incredibly dangerous.
“They’ve gone on this season and even after losing their first two games in Europe and having a slow start, they’ve come back and they’re in a tough pool as well.
“They’ve come out the other side of that and they’ve beaten La Rochelle, who were one of the form teams in Europe at the time.
“They’re doing it time and time again. They’ve a lot of experience they’ve built up themselves and that’s the only experience that’s really relevant.
“It’s the here and now. What’s done in the past is in the past and it’s about how the teams go into the week and how they perform on the day.
“There’s experience there our guys can draw on but it’s what they do on the day that counts.”
