Scott Fardy hopes Leinster's young guns reap the reward for staying the course during lockdown - as he parks speculation regarding his own future for now.
Fardy, 36, has been brought back into the starting team for tomorrow's Champions Cup clash in Exeter having been down to start on the bench in last week's Covid-cancelled clash with Toulon.
His experience has got him the nod over Ryan Baird - one of the new generation praised by the former Aussie international for staying the course.
Fardy admits his experience of the pandemic has been poles apart from that of younger Blues team-mates who have avoided a social life to stay strictly in the rugby bubble.
Bar the Covid problem that came to light just before Christmas, Leinster's bubble has remained intact.
The province has managed to avoid the unfortunate situation that saw Toulon forfeit the opportunity of playing the Blues in the last 16 last Friday.
"Yeah, there's been some huge sacrifices made," Fardy said.
"We realise the danger of that and those things happen - they had one positive case, Toulon, and what happens after that has huge ramifications for their season.
"Particularly the young guys in the squad and even the guys in the Ireland squad, they make huge sacrifices for this.
"You walk around the park most days and you see people out drinking and our guys aren't doing those things, they're not going to house parties and are really looking after ourselves.
"When you look at a guy who is 21, 22, it's a massive sacrifice for them to make compared to someone of my own age with a couple of kids at home, it's a different experience.
"The young people have given up so much in this pandemic and I feel for them. They've made huge sacrifices for the squad."
Fardy has been a mainstay of the group for the past four years but it is highly likely that he will leave the province in the summer.
That he recently lifted the PRO14 trophy along with fellow veterans Devin Toner and Michael Bent indicated that is the plan, but Fardy doesn't want any distractions ahead of the clash with the reigning champions.
"I'll probably come to that later in the year, at the moment I'm not sure yet," the lock said.
"Dev played so many games for the club, it was great to see him hold the trophy up and Benty did a fantastic job for us throughout the year in the PRO14, he played nearly every game and did such a great job so deservedly he got to hold the trophy up as well.
"I just handed it to him - other than that I was fully part of it.
"It's an important week for us so I'll address that later. At the moment we're just focusing on what's a big game this week."
Leinster secured back to back victories over the Chiefs when they last met in December 2017, with a late Jack Conan try ending a 17-match unbeaten run for Exeter at Sandy Park.
"It’s a long time ago," said Fardy. "We know we can do it, go and do a job.
"But it’s a fairly different side than the one we had out that night - there’s a few guys like Isa (Nacewa), Sean O’Brien, Rob Kearney (who are gone) so the team has changed a bit.
"It was one of the best games of my career playing away in front of their crowd.
"Obviously disappointing there's no crowd there this week but to play away at Exeter is something we're really looking forward to.
"They move the ball a bit more than they did. I remember thinking then their forwards didn’t pass, but they’ve probably got a little bit more to their game.
"There’s a lot to their game - to their line-out, to their starter plays and things like that, a lot going on.
"They’re a very well coached side and they’ve been together for a long time, so there’s a lot of work for us to do in terms of stopping what they’re capable of.
"A great story, they've come from where they've come from to where they are now to be one of the best sides in Europe - and it's a huge challenge there."
