Rob Kearney believes it’s important that all of Leinster’s players watch this weekend’s Pro12 final - particularly if Munster take the title.
Leinster fell to a disappointing defeat in last week’s semi-final at the RDS, leaving the door open for a Munster-Scarlets decider at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday (6.15pm Live on RTÉ Radio 1, live blog on RTE.ie and the News Now App).
The Ireland full-back believes that he and his team-mates should now watch the match and learn their lessons, which will be all the more important if the Irish province win.
"I won't be there, but yeah, I will watch it and I think it's important that everyone watches it," Kearney told RTÉ Sport.
"Watching Munster coming up to Dublin and filling the Aviva out, and more than likely winning the competition, is tough viewing. But I think you need hurt to fuel things going on, going forward. That'll be a tough thing to watch but if it helps us in the long run, then so be it.
"I think it's going to be fascinating game. Scarlets are playing really good rugby at the moment and as we saw at the weekend, they can make tries out of nothing.
"Munster play a very high pressure game and they don't give you too many opportunities. They sort of strangle you into submission, so it will be a fascinating game so see.
"Scarlets had a pretty good game plan against us at the weekend and they'll have to vary it up a good bit to beat Munster. It will be interesting to see exactly what they do to do that."
Munster and Leinster both reached the European Champions Cup semi-finals this year and the Blues were favourites to win the Pro12 but, against a Scarlets team that played for more than half the game a man down, they fell apart, losing 27-15 on their home patch.
"It's a tough one," admitted Kearney. "Knockout rugby is very different to league games and you do have to take learnings from them sometimes.
"We didn't perform at the weekend, I think everyone realises that. It's not the Leinster that anyone would have expected to see turn up at the RDS on Friday night. So it was a really uncharacteristic performance from us, and we will have to learn lot from the situation going forward."
Kearney is nearing the end of a lengthy injury rehabilitation following bicep surgery last month and having done eight weeks of rehab work he hopes to be fully fit in another four weeks.
He revealed that has had no contact with British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland about this summer’s tour in New Zealand, adding there’s no danger of getting a call-up even if there is an injury crisis against the All Blacks.
"I haven't played a huge amount. I'm fit but I'm not match fit, so I'd imagine he would be going with the guys who are on tour with their own countries rather than with someone who is back home," explained the Louth man.
"Because it's full-back as well, it's only a specialist position, there are a lot of other guys there who can play that position too."
When asked directly was he ruled out, Kearney replied: "Yeah."
"You can't play New Zealand at their own game because they're just difficult to beat"
Along with Leinster team-mate Jamie Heaslip, he will also miss Ireland’s summer tour to America and Japan. But he will be keeping an eye on all of the big games and he’s backing the Lions to make a big impact against the All Blacks.
"The coaches are going to have their work cut out for them but the good thing about this is that everyone understands how difficult it is going to be and sometimes that it half the challenge - realising just what you are up against," noted Kearney.
"You can't play New Zealand at their own game because they're just difficult to beat and at the moment the franchises are playing a different game to every other team in the Super 15. So if they bring that into their international side they will be tough to beat.
"But if there is one team in the world that's going to do it, it's going to be a match-up from all four countries."
