Dan Sheehan says there's "absolutely no way" the Bulls will be more motivated than Leinster to win Saturday's BKT URC decider.
Leo Cullen’s side have always benchmarked themselves against Champions Cup success and have had to once more put European heartache aside for a URC push.
Beaten semi-finalists in the last three seasons, Leinster have shaken off a gut-wrenching European loss to Northampton Saints to earn a place in the Croke Park decider, with knockout wins of varying quality against Scarlets and Glasgow.
The South African franchises joined the tournament in 2022 and there is a perception that the Bulls, Sharks, Lions and Stormers place more emphasis on the United Rugby Championship than European success.
Of the six teams that have contested Grand Finals in the last three years, four have been from the Rainbow Nation, with Bulls losing to Stormers in 2022 and Warriors last season.
"Listening to the South African commentary [for Bulls v Sharks semi-final] you could see how much the franchises have bought into the URC," former Ireland captain Donal Lenihan said on last night’s Against the Head.
"It’s only four years since they left the southern hemisphere’s Super Rugby and now they love this tournament."
But Ireland hooker Sheehan, who scored twice against Glasgow, insists they won’t be beaten in the hunger game.
"Absolutely no way," he told RTÉ Sport.
"We’ve had six weeks or however long it is to focus on the URC and we’ve been trophyless the last however many years and I think the hunger is there for sure in the group.
"There’s absolutely no way that a team will be hungrier than us.
Joe McCarthy believes "everyone loves to hate Leinster", but given the strength in depth the province has at its disposal, Donal Lenihan says people are entitled to ask questions if they don't deliver trophies #RTErugby #AgainstTheHead pic.twitter.com/AI8e2dcXzE
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"You can feel the buzz coming in this morning, people are excited, another final to look forward to.
"We are happy with how we dealt with Glasgow on Saturday but the first conversation was we need to up it a level. Finals are different.
"It’s an exciting, hungry Bulls team, who also have come up short the last few years like ourselves are coming to town so there’s a big battle ahead of us."
Two of Leinster’s last three knockout defeats in the competition came against the Bulls, in a home semi-final in 2022 and away 12 months ago.
Jake White’s side also ended Leinster’s 16-game winning streak this season when they kicked a late penalty for a 21-20 victory in Loftus Versfeld last March.
"We’ve taken our lessons from it over the years and I’m sure we’ll refer back to it during the week if there are poignant messages we need to take from it again, to remind ourselves," said 26-year-old Sheehan, who is one of 16 Ireland players set for the Lions tour of Australia this summer.
"But we are focussing on the here and now, the present squad.
"That might be fuel for the fire, that the Bulls have got the better of us over the last couple of years for sure.
"They are a dangerous team, and we need to make sure we turn up.
"We didn’t play the worst against them over the last couple of years and they still got the better of us, we need to make sure we are all guns blazing."
Follow a live blog of Leinster v Bulls on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to live commentary on RTE Radio 1.
