For a core of this Leinster team, Stuart Lancaster has been a guiding presence along their journey through professional rugby.
Garry Ringrose was just out of his rookie year of professional rugby when the former England boss was unveiled as the province's new senior coach in 2016, the Cumbrian arriving in Dublin with a point to prove after England's World Cup failure a year earlier.
Now 28, Ringrose is one of the key men for both province and country, one of the big leaders and big talkers in a side looking to win their fifth Heineken Champions Cup.
The centre wasn't always so vocal. He recalls a time in one of Lancaster's early seasons, when the coach put microphones on players to gauge how much they were communicating with each other on the training pitch.
"I would have been really quiet and, like that, he'd challenge you every session and review it with you as well," Ringrose says, as he looks back on Lancaster's seven year spell with the province.
The Englishman will depart after today's Champions Cup final, moving to a new chapter of his career at Racing 92, and Ringrose says he'll be leaving a lasting impression on the squad.
"It would be hard to put into words or give full credit to the amount that he has helped me. When he first came in, I was 21. From the off, he would have challenged guys.
"As a young lad, I would have been used to going into a meeting and waiting to be told what to think or what to do and before he would talk about anything, he'd ask: 'What are your thoughts on the game?'
"So he’d challenge you to have a point of view. He’d put you on the spot. It forced you to think, away from meetings, away from the pitch - when you were watching rugby - to think about it in a more analytical way, to give your genuine point of view. He didn’t mind what you said, it was to get you thinking. So that’s one example – after seven years of that, you build up a bit of rugby IQ.
"I grew up going to games in Lansdowne Road, going to games in the RDS, coming to the Aviva, watching my heroes of the time play. And then to get a chance to actually do that…"
"He is always great at showing other teams. In meetings, he might be like, ‘Look what La Rochelle did this week. Look what Saracens did this week and how effective it was for them. We should be able to emulate that or copy that."
This will be Ringrose's fourth appearance in the final, with a record of one win and two defeats from his previous deciders.
But the 2023 showpiece is extra special for both he and this Leinster team, to be played out in front of their home crowd at a stadium where they were raised watching Leinster and Irish teams of old.
"I grew up going to games in Lansdowne Road, going to games in the RDS, coming to the Aviva, watching my heroes of the time play. And then to get a chance to actually do that…
"When you're coming up through academies, you’re always chasing something but to get to stand back and say, now I’m actually here? It’s unbelievably special. And to have mates of mine getting onto me looking for tickets – unfortunately I can’t get a lot of them but my family is all going to be there, mates all in the crowd and then hopefully a few more Leinster supporters, which is another pinch-yourself moment when you truly think about it."
La Rochelle are the only team to have beaten Leinster across the last three seasons of European competition, with Ronan O'Gara's side stunning the visitors in the semi-final of 2021, before pulling off another famous win in last year's decider in Marseille.
The French side are much changed from last year's title-winning side, with just eight of the 2022 starting team included in the XV this evening.
But Ringrose believes the defending champions are arguably even stronger on paper than the group that won their club's first major trophy 12 months ago.
"I mean, they are exceptional opposition," he added.
"They seem to go from strength to strength every time we play. I think they have a stronger squad again this year with some of the new additions.
"So I mean the difference for us, we still prepared as best we can, to come up with a plan to try and stop them. Obviously we have been unsuccessful twice.
"So hopefully third time lucky but they're just, they're a great team, and we know we have to be at our best if we want to beat them."
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