As Leinster turned defence into the best form of attack earlier in the season, Bernard Jackman remarked on the RTÉ Rugby podcast that Jacques Nienaber had turned a bunch of south county Dublin rugby players into "proper psychos".
That was back in December, and four months later the province's defensive efforts have only improved.
In the Investec Champions Cup round of 16 and quarter-finals, they put a combined 114 points on Harlequins and Glasgow Warriors, but more impressively they held both opponents scoreless across a combined 160 minutes of rugby.
As they prepare to welcome Northampton Saints to Aviva Stadium this afternoon, what do the Leinster players think of Jackman’s assessment?
"There's definitely a few psychos in the team anyway," Jack Conan tells RTÉ Sport.
"You see Tommy O'Brien run around smashing lads on the wing, and a few head-bangers in the pack as well. It might look a bit chaotic at times, but we know it's quite strategic and well planned out."
"It's very much a well thought out system and you need a few psychos in there to go and put your head where you wouldn't put a shovel."
When these sides met at Croke Park 12 months ago, Leinster looked like they were cruising towards the final when then were 20-3 ahead early in the second half, only for an adventurous Saints side to mount a comeback and get back with three points in the final minute.
After a nervous defensive stand, it was Conan (above) and Caelan Doris who combined for a late turnover to seal the win, although the former insists he did the heavy lifting.
"What are my abiding memories? Me making the turnover to kind of squash the last attack. And Caelan said he had one hand it as well, which was not true," Conan laughs.
Leinster were still getting to grips with Nienaber’s aggressive defensive system this time last year. At times it worked – like their quarter-final against La Rochelle - and at times it was caught out, with Northampton finding ways around it at Croker.
"I think after Toulouse last year there was a few of us who'd played in the four final losses, and you're just sitting there and being like, 'I can't believe this is happening again'."
This season, it’s been their biggest weapon. Across 22 games in both Champions Cup and URC, the province are giving up just 13 points per game. In this competition alone, that average falls to nine points per match.
"I think defensively, when Jacques came in last year, it's such a different defensive system than anything we've been used to before.
"It's a thing that took a long time to really install and for lads to be comfortable with it and for it to become habitual and instinctive, so I think that's now happened.
"I think we now know what to do, when to do it, and we back ourselves to do it, where before I think there were some lads who got it 100%, and some lads who didn't maybe get it 100%.
"And in a system like that, if you don't commit fully to it, you're going to get picked apart. And I think we're just more comfortable with it now, it's installed that much, that bit better I think."
The province are 80 minutes away from their ninth appearance in the Champions Cup final, and fourth in a row, having lost the 2022, 2023 and 2024 deciders.
Having won each of their first four finals appearances, they’ve only known heartbreak since 2018. And while dejection has become a familiar feeling, it never gets easier to stomach.
"They get harder and harder," Conan, who is among the replacements this afternoon, says of their recent Champions Cup pain.
"I think after Toulouse last year there was a few of us who'd played in the four final losses, and you're just sitting there and being like, 'I can't believe this is happening again’.
"It is unbelievably tough to take and you definitely do a bit of soul searching.
"You have to ask the harder questions of yourself on how well you're preparing and how professional you're being in those moments.
"It's been unbelievably tough to take. Every single one seems to get worse and harder to kind of wrap your head around."
With a squad full of Ireland internationals, as well as three high profile foreign signings, the vast majority of other clubs in Europe can only look on with envy as Leinster play in their eighth final since 2017.
But Conan is taking little comfort from simply being in the mix to win.
"It is great and it's exactly where we want to be, but when we know how good we can be and what we can achieve, anything but winning is deemed not good enough, you know?
"So even though we've been incredibly consistent and to make three finals in a row and four finals over the last number of years... It's not where we want to be. We want to be winning. We want to be pushing on and adding more stars to the jersey and everything else.
"Those, I don't want to say failures, but not getting over the line has to be something that spurs you on, that drives me, makes me want it more.
"There's still so many lads in this environment, who've grown from 2019, who've come into the squad and are now like world class players and they've never really won it and in Leinster it's about time that we really kick on and get it done.
"We’re relishing that opportunity and it'll be a great opportunity against Northampton for us to take another step closer to that."
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Watch the Champions Cup semi-final, Leinster v Northampton Saints, on Saturday from 4.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
