It hasn’t been the smoothest of run ins for Leinster.
A lot of their top players had to endure harsh reality checks after a sobering Six Nations. They’re wider players were humbled by both Edinburgh and Glasgow in the last month and they’re best player in Johnny Sexton had not played for the club since since that infamous loss to Munster before the new year.
There were a lot of factors that those in Leinster HQ would classify as far from ideal heading into the semi-finals of the Champions Cup, including the last minute withdrawal of Rhys Ruddock through injury, but when the stage was set and the lights were bright Leinster once again delivered.
With Saracens putting down a huge gauntlet on Saturday with a thoroughly dominant 32-16 win over Munster, they had reminded everyone why they have been one of the teams of this decade but on Sunday in Dublin Leinster showed why they’re fancied to claim an unprecedented fifth European crown next month.
There was nothing particularly flashy or dazzling about Leinster’s play but much like Saracens they were extremely clinical. They carried hard, they were superb at the breakdown and the interplay between their forwards in close quarters was crisp.
A big part of Saracens success against Munster was how simple they kept their gameplan and they let their forward pack, led by five British & Irish Lions bludgeon their way to a dominant win over a dogged Munster win.
Leinster were not a world apart with the luxury of three Lions, a future Lion in James Ryan and a former Wallabies captain in Scott Fardy drafted in at late notice, with their pack laying a great platform for Johnny Sexton to punish Toulouse with his boot.
While Leinster have become a much more fluid outfit since the arrival of Stuart Lancaster at the club, one of the most impressive things about their run has been just how ruthless they can be when teams give them half a chance.
Richie Gray’s first-half sin binning opened up a door for Leinster to go to the corner and from there they mauled their way over the line with Luke McGrath touching down to give the hosts a deserved lead.
Maybe it comes with experience, after all, Leinster have 14 internationals and James Lowe in their starting XV, but when they enter the opposition’s 22 they don’t panic. They work through their phases. They recycle the ball and like all good teams they find their way over the line.
The difference for Leinster, and maybe it’s a blatantly obvious point to make given that they have the current World Rugby Player of the Year, but when Sexton is on and firing they are such a hard team to stop.
The forwards lay a great platform but Sexton makes them tick. He’s the master conductor and when he’s flowing and directing traffic and controlling the game, Leinster are so hard to beat because they’re so organised and play with such intensity that they force teams to crack.
Against Wales in the final game of the Six Nations, Sexton had a nightmare and was in the rare position where the more a player tries, the worse things get for them.
The more he pushed, the angrier he got, the more wildly out of sync he became and it’s quite possibly the worse thing to a happen to a team when their fly-half enters into a meltdown.
Since then he’s barely trained. He hasn’t played and he was being thrust back into their biggest game of the season and he didn’t miss a beat and rightly won man of the match.
The Champions Cup has been great this season. Toulouse and Racing have dazzled. New faces like Edinburgh have earned a seat at the table and sides like Munster have teased and threatened but ultimately next month’s final will be the meeting of the two best teams in Europe and for Leinster it’s a chance to solidify themselves as the greatest club side in European history.
And would you doubt them?
