Another year, another Champions Cup semi-final for Leinster, and a campaign that has followed a near identical path to the last.
Just as they did a year ago, they made their way through the pool stage in cold-blooded fashion, and just as they did a year ago they eased through an Irish derby in the Round of 16 before proving too much for Leicester in the quarters.
And just as they did last year, they welcome five-time champions Toulouse to the Aviva Stadium in the semi-final. If they come out on top, they might very well have a rematch with Ronan O'Gara and La Rochelle in the decider.
History has repeated itself quite a bit for Leo Cullen's side this season, but it's hard to see this semi-final playing out in similar fashion to last season's 40-17 thrashing of Toulouse.
Just seven days previously the French champions had gone through a quarter-final against Munster that was as draining mentally as it was physically, needing extra-time and a place-kicking competition to secure a return trip to Dublin the following week.
Leinster were scorching under the sun in Dublin for that semi-final last May, while Toulouse looked jaded and were never really in the game.
Both sides have had ideal preparation.
While Leinster were in South Africa for the last two rounds of URC, their frontline stars stayed back in Dublin and have had more than two weeks to prepare specifically for the Antoine Dupont and co, while Toulouse also sat their first-teamers for last week's Top14 defeat to Stade Francais.
Most notably, that semi-final last year was dictated by the class of Johnny Sexton, who set up three tries, converted three tries and kicked another three penalties in one of his greatest performances in blue. With the Irish captain sidelined for the rest of the reason, that puts big pressure onto the shoulders of Ross Byrne.
The 28-year-old has played out close to 150 Leinster games in the shadow of Sexton, but with the captain's Leinster career now over due to injury, Byrne will lead their attack in what is arguably the biggest game of his club career.
While he's started a Champions Cup semi-final before - the 32-23 defeat away to La Rochelle in 2021 - his career is in a much different place now that it was back then.
That semi-final in France came off the back of a Six Nations campaign in which it looked like Ireland head coach Andy Farrell had lost patience with the out-half, who looked low on confidence, and caught in a brutal middle ground between Sexton and his younger brother Harry, who many predicted would take his jersey over the following seasons.
Byrne has come of age this season though.
Back in the Ireland squad, and almost certain to be in the World Cup squad, he's started every one of Leinster's games in the Champions Cup, kicking 65 points off the tee, second only to Antoine Hastoy of La Rochelle.
Unlike previous big games he's started, he's no longer keeping Sexton's jersey warm, even if the captain is still playing a major role behind the scenes.
"He [Sexton] was speaking earlier on in the week," said Garry Ringrose. "He's in on our backs' meetings and surprisingly he'd still be humble enough to maybe not speak sometimes, because he'd maybe feel it's not his place.
"But we'd always ask if there's anything he's seen that we're missing, and usually there is, with how he reads the game and what he sees.
"He sees stuff other lads don't, so he's still in there in the mornings helping us out in meetings and he's there for us to pick his brain.
"He's a big game player and he's a good person to ask about what it takes to win. He's seen it all and do that."
Having endured a period of transition in the mid 2010s, Toulouse have been a consistent fixture for the Irish provinces since returning to the Champions Cup in 2018/19, with this being their 15th meeting with an Irish side in the last five seasons alone.
With 10 wins from those 14 recent games against the provinces, two of those coming against Munster in the pool this season, they boast a formidable record against everyone bar Leinster.
They famously caught the then-defending champions cold in France in the pool stages in October 2018, before Leo Cullen's side flexed their muscles to win the reverse fixture at the RDS, before doing so again in the semi-finals later that season.
A look back on that 2019 semi-final at the Aviva shows how Ugo Mola's side have developed in recent seasons.
Antoine Dupont started at out-half that day, but by full-time had moved back inside to his preferred scrum-half slot, with a then 19-year-old Romain Ntamack playing the final 25 minutes at 10.
Four years on, the Dupont-Ntamack half-back partnership is arguably the best in the world, while Thomas Ramos, Pita Ahki, Richie Arnold, Peato Mauvaka, Cyril Baille and Francoid Cros also remain from that semi-final four years ago.
In 13 meetings between the side, Leinster just about edge the head-to-head 7-6, but the province have won four of the five knockout meetings between the pair, with their only defeat coming in France in the semi-final of 2010.
It's a fifth semi-final in a row for the five-time champions, but while Mola's side can point to a title success in 2021, it's arguable that one trip to the final in that period has been an underachievement. It probably hasn't helped that this is their third semi-final meeting with Leinster in that period.
Both sides are missing key figures from 12 months ago. As well as Sexton, Robbie Henshaw, Ronan Kelleher and James Lowe are absent through injury, although the silver lining comes in the form of Josh van der Flier and Ryan Baird who have recovered from injury to be named in the squad.
On the Toulouse side, Charlie Faumuina is a notable absentee, with the former All Black tighthead coming up just short in his return from injury, while back row Anthony Jelonch is still sidelined with the knee injury he picked up during the Six Nations.
In addition, the visitors will be without Ange Capuozzo and Melvyn Jaminet.
The considerable overlap of personnel between the Irish and French national sides adds another layer of intrigue to this game. Eight of Leinster's starting side this week also featured when Ireland beat France 32-19 in Dublin in February, while five of the Toulouse XV did likewise.
And Cullen believes there revenge will be a motivating factor among the Toulouse ranks for what happened in the Six Nations earlier this year.
"Possibly, I was at that game as a supporter with my eight-year-old boy, it was an amazing game to watch," he said.
"The same referee, Wayne Barnes, referees the game tomorrow. Hopefully it's a similar type of spectacle, because that's what everyone wants to see, good teams going at it at this stage of the season, because there's a hell of a lot of work that goes into getting to that point."
Despite several injuries, Leinster's depth may see them over the line. While Toulouse's first XV is formidable, they look light on the bench, while the physicality of Ryan Baird and Jason Jenkins will provide some ballast when bodies are tiring in the second half.
Home advantage has been a big factor in this rivalry down the years, and it may just tip the scales in favour of Leinster, along with the carrot of a home final back at the Aviva next month.
The stars are aligning for Leo Cullen's side, and they're hell-bent on getting a fifth for their jersey.
Verdict: Leinster
Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose, Charlie Ngatai, Jimmy O'Brien; Ross Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Ross Molony, James Ryan; Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan.
Replacements: John McKee, Cian Healy, Michael Ala'alatoa, Jason Jenkins, Ryan Baird, Luke McGrath, Harry Byrne, Ciarán Frawley.
Toulouse: Thomas Ramos; Juan Cruz Mallia, Pierre-Louis Barassi, Pita Ahki, Matthis Lebel; Romain Ntamack, Antoine Dupont (capt); Cyril Baille, Péato Mauvaka, Dorian Aldegheri; Richie Arnold, Emmanuel Meafou; Jack Willis, Thibaud Flament, Francois Cros.
Replacements: Julian Marchand, Rodrigue Neti, David Ainu'u, Alexandre Roumat, Rynhardt Elstadt, Alban Placines, Paul Graou, Arthur Retiere.
Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU)
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