Leinster's Jimmy O’Brien believes that his side’s entire season is on the line this weekend as they prepare to face Glasgow in the quarter-finals of the United Rugby Championship.
O’Brien’s side welcome Glasgow to Dublin for a do-or-die clash, less than a week after suffering the heart-break of defeat in the European Rugby Champions Cup final.
A 79th minute try from Arthur Retiere helped La Rochelle to a narrow 24-21 victory over Leinster in the European showpiece final and O’Brien admits that he and his team-mates are still coming to terms with that loss.
However the Leinster man welcomed the chance to quickly move on from the defeat and he believes that Saturday’s clash with Glasgow is the perfect opportunity to do so.
"Obviously the weekend was very tough for everyone, the whole group, the whole building, but at the same time you’d prefer to have a game this weekend to try and put it right," he said.
"Instead of resting on our laurels and being depressed for the week, at least there’s something there that we can turn the page and look forward to.
"There’s frustration when you lose a final like that, when it was so close and there’s obviously frustration and disappointment with everyone.
"But we get a game a week later which is we want to put it right, get it out of your system and to play well this weekend."
O’Brien insisted that Leinster can still salvage something from the season despite their European heartbreak but to do so, they have to successfully defend their URC crown.
The Blues are aiming for their fifth consecutive title in a tournament that was rebranded at the start of this season, and have three games in which to claim it. If they do so, O’Brien believes that this will be seen as a successful season for Leo Cullen's side.
"It’s massively important," he said. "At the start of the year we set out that wanted to win the two competitions.
"We’ve come up short in one of them now but we still have one to fight for. We still have three games hopefully to play.
"It’s kind of our season now, our season is on the line at the weekend so we have to win.
"It’s massive for us as a group. You always want to win silverware every year and we came up short last week but now we, hopefully, have three games in a row, all knock-out, all big games, so it’s huge for us.
"It’s an ideal opportunity. If we had nothing now, if our season was over, we’d be dwelling on it for our whole holidays.
"We get a chance to set it right this weekend and you can’t dwell on it too long, Glasgow are a good side, they’re going to be tough so you have to you have to turn the page pretty quickly."
Follow Ulster v Munster (Friday 7.35pm), Leinster v Glasgow (Saturday 3.15pm) via our live blogs on rte.ie/sport or on the RTÉ News app. Watch Leinster v Glasgow live on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. Highlights on Against the Head, Monday 8.30pm, RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
Listen to live commentary from Ulster v Munster on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra and updates from Leinster v Glasgow on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
