Bernard Jackman believes the "scar tissue" of Leinster's recent Investec Champions Cup pain will only heal if Leo Cullen’s side end their long wait for a fifth title.
The province welcome Toulon to Aviva Stadium for their semi-final on Saturday, looking to book a return to the San Mames stadium in Bilbao, the site of their most recent final victory in 2018.
The four-time champions have only missed the semis once since, a shock defeat to Saracens in the quarter-final in 2020, with four final defeats and two semi-final losses in that time.
Twelve months ago, the four-time champions fell to a shock 37-34 defeat to Northampton Saints in the final four at Aviva Stadium, and while they did go on to lift the URC title the following month, that Champions Cup exit has hung over them for a year.
And Jackman doesn't believe they will ever truly answer their critics until they end that wait for a fifth European title.
"I don't think it's just the Northampton semi-final last year, there's loads of scar tissue here," the 2009 Champions Cup winner told the RTÉ Rugby podcast.
"There's La Rochelle three times, once in Covid [2021] if you remember in the semi-final. There's Toulouse obviously. There's Saracens. And these are actually some of the best games in recent years in the Champions Cup; the drama, the quality of play.
"But they have come out the wrong side of way more than they would have liked. The only way to answer that is to go and lift silverware.
"And then it's part of your journey: 'We had all these setbacks and we still found a way’. But it [the doubt] is definitely there. And obviously the likes of Toulon will play on that."
Saturday’s opponents Toulon are back in the semi-finals for the first time since winning the last of their three titles in a row in 2015.
Pierre Mignoni’s side produced a surprise win away to Glasgow Warriors in the quarter-finals, although they have endured an inconsistent season, eighth in the Top14 with four games of the regular season to play.
Four wins in a row in all competitions, however, makes them a dangerous opponent according to Jackman, particularly given Leinster’s history in big knockout games.
"We heard Northampton last year post-match, talk about how they built a little bit of relief from the fact that Leinster weren't closing out tight games. They openly admitted that," he added.
"And whether it's real or not doesn't matter. It's whether Pierre Mignoni can convince his group that Leinster have weaknesses.
"Unfortunately the Northampton game, or the games we just mentioned, or even Treviso, he [Mignoni] can show things that even sceptics would say, ‘yeah there's a weakness there on that day’.
"It can be fixed, of course it can, but certainly Toulon are coming here not thinking that it's a foregone conclusion that Leinster are through."
Unlike previous seasons, however, Leinster aren't coming into the semi-finals in red-hot form.
While the province appeared to be clicking in previous weeks against Sale Sharks and Ulster, last weekend’s 29-26 defeat to Benetton in the URC has come as a real wake-up call ahead of their European semi-final.
"It's kind of been a bit scratchy," Jackman said of Leinster's form this season.
"You saw a change in strategy from Leo Cullen, obviously going strong the week before the semi-finals on paper.
"But it wasn't the perfect performance by any manner of means, very sloppy actually. I think it's been a tough few days in Leinster.
"Last year Leo Cullen was on the record as saying he thought people got ahead of themselves in that Northampton defeat. Well, certainly, I don't think anyone's doing that this year, not just about Treviso or that game but just over the course of the season there's been more little frustrations than jubilation.
"And I think it sets the mind perfectly for this. But you've still got to find a performance and that's the hard thing.
"I thought against Ulster it was turning, in that first half against Ulster, which was actually, ironically, with a second-string mixed team. But they will be frustrated."
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