Revenge will not be on the menu for Leinster when they face Saracens in the Champions Cup final next month.
Players from both sides will have unhappy memories of facing each other but Blues boss Leo Cullen insists the size of the occasion will be all the motivation his players need.
This meeting of last year’s champions Leinster with the back to back winners of the previous two years provides a dream decider.
And as Blues ace Johnny Sexton has pointed out, the English club have made plenty of references to last year’s quarter-final, when Leinster put away an under par Sarries at Aviva Stadium.
Revenge is on their minds but Cullen doesn’t believe Leinster’s Ireland contingent will feel the same after sufffering a Six Nations defeat at the hands of a number of Saracens players in that February clash.
Johnny Sexton says Leinster facing toughest ever challenge against Saracens
“There are other things that will motivate us more,” he said. “Form, knowing each other, the personal tussles... I’m not sure what the relevance of it (the England defeat) really is.
“There’s so much motivation for so many different reasons. The motivation will be high for both teams.”
That being said, Cullen was keen to add that his players would relish another strong show of support from the Leinster faithful in three weeks’ time.
“Hopefully we will get a huge crowd to Newcastle. The memories that players have driving into the ground that day (last year), seeing the blue flags everywhere. I can vividly picture a sea of blue as we drove in under the stadium in Bilbao.
“They are amazing days for players to be involved in. It is this weight of support, this momentum, when you think everyone is behind you.
“It is powerful stuff. Players feed off that and they understand what it means to, not just our group, but to lots of other people as well.
“We’ll do everything we can. We’ve just got to knuckle down now, come up with a plan, deal with Ulster first on Saturday and then work really hard to make sure we are best set to give the best account of ourselves.”
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