Jacques Nienaber has been able to enjoy two incredible back-to-back Leinster performances in recent weeks, and the senior coach believes the victories are reward for the hard work that the squad have put in throughout the season.
The South African is just 18 months into his role at Leinster and has already left an indelible mark on the ever-improving side, arriving at the Dublin-based club off the back of guiding the Springboks to World Cup glory in 2023.
Renowned for his relentless style of forward play, Nienabar has instilled a similar philosophy into the dominating Leinster side who have bulldozed their way into the Champions Cup semi-final, while maintaining a commanding lead in the United Rugby Championship.
Leinster amassed a remarkable total of 114 unanswered points as they put, first Harlequins, and then Glasgow Warriors to the sword over the past two weekends.
And now the team must put their European ambitions on hold for three weeks as they return to league action before meeting Northampton Saints on 3 May for a place in the Champions Cup final.
An Irish derby awaits on Saturday as Leinster return to Aviva Stadium to take on Ulster as they look to push further clear at the top of the table having won 13 out of their 14 league games so far in this campaign.
"The most rewarding thing for me is the scores, as it allows you to be a bit more aggressive if you control the scoreboard," Nienaber told RTÉ Sport, when asked to reflect on consecutive zero concessions in the two European fixtures.
"I'm glad for the players who are getting the reward for all the hard work and sacrifices they have put in. And just to see the smiles on their faces and the enjoyment they get out of it.
"You can see the effort they put in during the week and how hard they are working and it is good to see it translating onto the pitch, and you can see the enjoyment the players are getting by expressing themselves in those games."
And looking ahead to Saturday's inter-provincial encounter with Ulster, Nienaber is expecting the visitors to bring the intensity to Lansdowne Road, and as a result, will demand that his own players put their European exploits to one side in a game that requires full focus.
"It was pretty tight in the first game and the scoreline flattered us a little bit," said Nienaber regarding the 27-20 victory in Belfast last November.
"Derby matches and inter-provincials are always big matches, and crunch matches, and it will be tough for us.
"And we will have to flick the switch early in the week to get our heads off what happened in the European games and get fully focused for Ulster as they will come with everything they have and we expect nothing less."
Changes are expected for the Ulster game following two intense weeks of European competition, and while the Leinster coaching staff have a juggling act trying to rotate players for both competitions, Nienaber stressed that it was not a case of keeping players happy but rather "rugby ready".
"From a team selection point of view, we try to make sure that everyone is rugby ready," he explained.
"It’s not managing or keeping players happy; not that they are overplayed and not that they are underplayed, because I think there is a sweet spot in between where you can have too little rugby or too much rugby.
"And we have to make sure if there are injuries in the back end of the competition that there is not somebody that comes in cold, that they have had some good rugby minutes under their belt against good opposition. But the key thing is that we get results."
Watch a URC double-header, Stormers v Connacht and Munster v Bulls, on Saturday from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
