Leinster head coach Leo Cullen says complacency won't be an issue for his side in Saturday's BKT United Rugby Championship quarter-final against the Cell C Sharks (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player), with last year's defeat to the Bulls still fresh in their memory.
The province were stunned by the South Africans in last year's URC semi-final at the RDS, who ensured Leinster would end last season without a trophy for the first time since 2017.
Cullen's side turn their attention towards the URC this week, having booked their place in the final of the Heineken Champions Cup a week ago, with a 19-point win against Toulouse.
But with a URC quarter, and potentially a semi-final to come before they face La Rochelle in the European final, Cullen says their minds are firmly set on the Sharks.
"Definitely, it's very much on our mind, that Bulls game, and the flatness of our performance that day," the Leinster coach said.
"That has a lot to do with the Bulls and how they played, and the Sharks will come with a similar mindset."
The South Africans have extra motivation in the URC, with Neil Powell's side needing to win the title in order to pip Connacht to a place in the Champions Cup last season.
And Cullen says it makes them a dangerous proposition.
"You could imagine that that is just another layer of motivation for them. They'll be full-steam to do everything the can to win.
"They’ll definitely push the boundaries for sure and giving everything they possibly have to get a positive outcome. There’s a huge commercial upside to being in the Champions Cup so they will be fully motivated for sure," he added.
The Sharks will be without influential Springbok pair Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth due to injury, but can call upon a host of powerful South Africa internationals including Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi, Thomas du Toit, Makazole Mapimpi and Lukyanyo Am who captains the side.
Leinster have made nine changes from the side that saw off Toulouse in the Champions Cup semi-final last Saturday, but have retained a core of frontline players, with Hugo Keenan, Jordan Larmour, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong and Caelan Doris all starting, and Andrew Porter, Jack Conan and Jamison Gibson-Park among the replacements.
Garry Ringrose, James Ryan and Josh van der Flier are rested, while Cullen says Robbie Henshaw was close to being available, having missed last week with a quad injury.
And he says it was important that his squad this week struck the right balance of rotation and continuity.
"We all probably think that we do the group a disservice if we didn't make changes and give other guys an opportunity, because the nature of the season there's so many moving parts over such a long period of time.
"Some guys have been excellent in terms of getting us to where we are, and it requires a lot of players. Then it's trying to get the right balance in terms of selection. We think we've a really exciting group, and plenty of guys with a point to prove, hopefully we'll see that.
"Some of the fresh players coming into the group have to deliver that freshness and clarity of mind that they're not as bogged down. They have to play like they have a point to prove.
"The Bulls came with a point to prove [in 2022], the Sharks I believe will come with a point to prove, and we need to make sure we're ready for the physical battle."
Leinster were 54-34 winners when the sides met in frenetic regular season game back in October, which saw them share 13 tries across a breathless 80 minutes.
And while Cullen is hoping for a similar result, he admits he'd prefer a more controlled performance than last time.
"You always want it to be controlled [laughs], unfortunately the nature of the game we're involved in, it can be chaotic at times.
"The way they defend is very aggressive, sort of up-and-in defence and if you're not accurate with what you do they can make life very, very difficult. You've seen in some of the games they've played in recent weeks how aggressive they are on the edges and wingers coming in and picking off intercept passes, scrum-half similar as well.
"They are very, very aggressive, and in that game there was a chaotic nature to it at times so just making sure that we're able to impose our game, but the South African game is based around physicality, strong setpiece and they want to impose themselves physically on the game.
"We want to make sure we're clear in our own minds as to how we counter-act that and try to impose our own game."
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Watch the BKT URC quarter-finals, Leinster v Sharks (Saturday, 5pm) and Glasgow Warriors v Munster (Saturday, 7.35pm), on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on the RTÉ News app or RTÉ.ie/Sport or listen to live commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
Follow a live blog of Ulster v Connacht (Friday, 7.35pm) or listen to live commentary on Game On on RTÉ 2fm.
