Munster senior coach Stephen Larkham says the pain of losing to Leinster doesn't get any easier with familiarity.
The URC Champions inflicted another defeat on their southern neighbours last week with a 34-19 win at Thomond Park, moving 10 points clear at the top of the table, and denying Munster the chance to climb up to second place.
It's a 14th Leinster win from 17 renewals of the Interpro', with Munster losing six of the seven meetings between the sides since Larkham's arrival in 2019, while they will face each other at least once more before the end of this campaign.
Given Leinster's dominance in the fixture, some have suggested the rivalry is no longer what it once was, contributing to the disappointing attendance of 20,657.
Senior coach Larkham stressed the need for the squad and management to put Saturday's defeat behind them as they prepare for this weekend's Heineken Champions Cup Round of 16 first leg with the Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park.
However, he added that doesn't mean they aren't still bruised by another loss against their near rivals.
"I mean, Leinster are top of the table at the moment so you're always challenging yourself against those teams, and you want to mark yourself against those teams, no different to other competitions around the world.
"The Leinster-Munster rivalry has always been there, so that's kind of a seperate one, but when Leinster are on top and we're not on top, yeah, we kind of feel... we're extremely disappointed in the game.
"Maybe I haven't expressed that enough. We've had a really good review, a real honest look at ourselves.
"And yeah, we're hurting, there's no doubt we're hurting. But we've got to move on. That's the game that we're in. It's a high performance, pressure environment where you get judged on a performance, but you've got to let that go and you've got to move on straight away because if you let it linger, then it's going to affect your next performance.
"So yeah, apologies if you feel that we're not expressing it enough, but I guarantee you that internally, that hurt us," said Larkham (below), who is leaving at the end of the season.
As the Australian said, attention does now turn to Europe and a two-legged affair with 2020 champions Exeter Chiefs, with the English side hosting Munster in the first leg this Saturday afternoon at Sandy Park.
The pair played out two tense pool matches in the 2018/19 season, drawing 10-10 in Round 1 in Devon, before Munster edged a 9-7 scoreline at Thomond Park the following January.
Saturday's first leg has every chance of being just as tense, with both sides likely to keep their cards close to their chest for the first half of what will be a 160 minute contest.
"I think they've got threats," Larkham said of the Chiefs.
"They’ve got international players, they’ve got world-class players in that backline. Like I said before they’ve got the ability to hold the ball.
"They’re actually very good at utilising the backs in general, not just the outside backs, but the balance in general.
"They’ve got a very set way that they play in attack, generally with their forward carrying and then they try and get their backs involved in that next phase off the sideline. They’re getting a lot of touches in the game and they’re a very dangerous outfit."
Like Munster, Exeter have been inconsistent by their usual standards this season, and are currently fourth in the Premiership, holding onto a playoff spot by just one victory.
But Larkham believes Rob Baxter's side are starting to click into gear, scoring six tries in a bonus point win against Bath last Saturday.
"Oh, for sure, they've got world class players and I think over the last month, they’ve found their game again that you’re talking about in Europe a couple of years ago. I think they’re back to that form.
"We’ve analysed what we think is going to work against them, but they are a very dangerous side."
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