Leinster don’t want to finish the season by suffering a second final defeat in three weeks.
Losing to Saracens at Newcastle United’s St James’ Park was enough for a driven competitor such as captain Johnny Sexton who returns to the line-up after coming off the bench seven days ago in the semi-final win over Munster.
And now another iconic football ground is set to stage this showpiece but the song remains the same for the Ireland No.10 – deal with the conditions, the atmosphere, the pressure.
“Saracens are a great example of a team that have thrived in other teams’ back gardens,” mused Sexton.
“We need to try and take a little bit of that into it. It’ll be 23 of us against probably 40,000.
“I don’t know how many Leinster fans will make it over, having put their hands in their pockets to come to Newcastle, but we probably let them down there a little bit and want to repay them.
“There was quite a big slope in Newcastle, I don’t know if you could tell in the stand or on TV but we definitely had an advantage in the first half - and that 10-point lead, there was definitely an advantage.
“But out there it’s pretty level. It’s an amazing surface actually, very firm.
“There was so many learnings from the Saracens game that we took - we’d love to go back and play the game again.
“We just have to make sure that we’re on the right side of the big decisions and we take our chances when we can.”
Leinster have used the Aviva Stadium and their home support to great effect and that’s what Glasgow will be hoping for this evening.
“It’s the biggest occasion they had, probably ever, really, when you look at it,” Sexton announced. “A home final in Celtic Park, it’s incredible. It’s up there for us as well.
“There’s a big affiliation for Celtic and Ireland, and a lot of us would have grown watching games here and dreaming to play here, and it’s great to get the chance to do it.
“A one in a life time chance is what I’m really trying to say”.
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