Caelan Doris believes the "fear" of repeating last season's semi-final heartbreak has been a motivating factor ahead of Leinster’s final four showdown with Toulon tomorrow.
Leo Cullen’s side are going in search of a ninth appearance in the Investec Champions Cup decider, and fourth in the last five seasons, as they continue their quest to win a fifth title.
Twelve months ago, the province were overwhelming favourites to reach the Cardiff final when they hosted Northampton Saints in the semi-finals, only to fall to a 37-34 defeat against Phil Dowson’s side in one of the all-time Champions Cup shocks.
While Leinster did go on to end their four-year wait for silverware by winning the URC, that Champions Cup collapse has hung over the province for a year.
The head coach has previously admitted some complacency had set into the group ahead of that semi-final appearance, and his captain, Doris, says the game has been a reference point all season, not just ahead of this weekend's semi-final.
"We’ve touched on it a few times over the last number of weeks and through the season really," Doris said.
"There were lessons to be learned from that game, so you kind of get reminded of them through the season but at the same time, it’s a clean slate in other ways.
"I think it’s been a pretty good week of training, there has been good intent and excitement about the building this week, it’s a fresh slate and excitement around attacking it.
And the number 8 (above) outlined why he’s confident they won’t suffer a repeat of last season’s semi-final pain.
"Some of the stuff we’ve seen over the last number of weeks, less so on Saturday [against Benetton] obviously," he added.
"Going back a little further than that, the systems that have been put in place in training in terms of accountability, clarity in what we’re trying to achieve and we’re seeing improvements week on week.
"There is a good buzz around the building, there is experience, a lot of desire, hopefully it comes to fruition tomorrow."
Toulon are playing their first Champions Cup semi-final since 2015, when they won the title for the third straight season, and while Pierre Mignoni’s side have had a largely inconsistent season, their surprise 22-19 win against Glasgow Warriors in the quarters will have come as clear reminder about their potential when they fully click.
And Doris says while the "fear" of repeating last year’s defeat has been playing on his mind, it won’t be clouding his preparation.
"I think you use a little bit of fear during the week to prep and get everything out of your preparation and then come game day it’s just about letting go, attacking the game, having the courage to play the way we want to play and going for it completely, a little bit of letting go of the outcome and focussing on the process as much as possible.
"Either way it was going to be a battle and it’s one we’re very excited about having here.
"You work very hard during the group stages to get home advantage and we’re fortunate in the way it panned out.
"We look forward to having hopefully loud supporters tomorrow and hopefully in how we pay we’ll bring them to life even more."
Preparations for the semi-final haven’t been ideal with Leinster falling to a surprise defeat to Benetton last week in the United Rugby Championship.
Unlike last season where they also suffered a surprise loss to Scarlets the week before their Northampton semi-final, Cullen had gone to Italy with the majority of his frontline starters, including the captain, Doris.
But as Cullen pointed out, Leinster aren’t the only team coming into this European weekend off the back of a defeat.
"You can see the four semi-finalists have had sort of mixed form in the two games since the quarter-final," the head coach (below) said.
"Bordeaux lost both games, Bath won one, lost one, we’re the same. Toulon are actually the team who won two games in between.
"It’s such a big tournament, isn’t it? Everyone is fighting away in their domestic leagues to qualify for this competition at the moment.
"We’re all trying to climb the mountain, aren’t we? And we’ve got ourselves and we need to enjoy the game, the occasion, playing here at home. I’m not that big into talking about individuals, its about the collective now.
"Everyone has poured their heart and soul into this thing since we were sitting in this room last year. We wanted to be in the final last year but we didn’t get to that stage.
"Credit to Northampton, they beat us on the day. So we’re back here now and it’s about everyone delivering everything they possibly can."
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