Leinster head coach Leo Cullen admits the pain of last week's Champions Cup final defeat to La Rochelle may still be playing on the minds of his players as they return to URC action tomorrow.
A week on from their dramatic 24-21 loss to Ronan O'Gara's side in Marseille, Leinster welcome Glasgow Warriors to the RDS for tomorrow's United Rugby Championship quarter-final (live on RTÉ1 and RTÉ Player).
Eight of last week's starting team continue in the side that was named today, while Johnny Sexton, James Lowe, Hugo Keenen and Rónan Kelleher were all ruled out due to injury.
The Leinster head coach says the URC play-offs are a perfect opportunity for his players to blow off the frustrations of last Saturday but concedes their latest Champions Cup final defeat will be hard to move on from.
"That's the thing, it's onto the next challenge, isn't it?," he said, ahead of tomorrow's game at the RDS.
"You try your best to park the game, I think it'll be there in the back of our minds for the future, but great to be back here at the RDS, we haven't played here in a long time. Hopefully we'll get a big crowd.
"For the players, they're just excited to get back playing again, because it was a frustrating weekend in Marseille last weekend. In terms of the selection, it's trying to get the right combination, getting freshness in there.
"We picked up a few knocks in the course of the game and there are a few guys unavailable due to knocks. As I said, we're excited to get going again."
With Tadhg Furlong, Andrew Porter, Josh van der Flier, Garry Ringrose and Jamison Gibson-Park among the big names retained, and Lions Jack Conan and Robbie Henshaw among the replacements, Leinster still have more then enough firepower in their matchday 23 to be firm favourites to advance to the semi-final.
Should they get there, Cullen says he's hopeful Johnny Sexton (below) could be available to play a semi-final against either the Bulls or Sharks. The captain hasn't trained this week due to the ankle injury sustained against La Rochelle, but the head coach has hinted he may take part in tomorrow's warm-up at the RDS ahead of a possible return to training next week.
Lowe is likely to be "touch-and-go" for a potential semi-final having carried a knee injury into last week's game, with Keenan also being kept out due to a knock picked up in Marseille.
Kelleher, who came off with a shoulder injury after 15 minutes of the final, took "the most serious bang" of the quartet, according to Cullen, who says it's a similar issue to the one which sidelined him on the recent tour of South Africa.
None of those issues will be relevant unless they get past Glasgow however, who finished eighth in the table in the regular season, picking up wins against Connacht and Munster along the way.
And Cullen says coming back down to earth for the quarter-finals was always going to be a challenge, regardless of how they fared at Stade Velodrome.
"We knew it would be a big challenge this week because Glasgow are a good team," he added.
"It's a singular focus for those guys, where you're getting ready for a final and then you've a quarter-final. Regardless of the result last week it was always going to be hugely challenging in this game.
"We have huge respect for both competitions and want to put our best foot forward. It would always be a challenging week, win or lose last weekend. It's an opportunity to get out, we're at home, a lot of work went into getting into this situation where we are with a home quarter-final at the RDS.
"It's a great opportunity for the players to go out and play for each other, and put in a big performance and help get over the disappointment of last week.
"The drive is there, strong as ever, and if anything after the weekend it's stronger than ever. But this week has been about trying to learn some harsh enough lessons from the game and improve as a group and move forward.
"We're all keen to get going now at this point and just get back into that routine of playing.
"But it's going to be a tough challenge, Glasgow are a good team, a niggly type of team as well, and we need to make sure we're in the right headspace for the game because it's a great challenge and hopefully we have a big crowd to cheer the guys on as well."
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow Ulster v Munster (Friday 7.35pm), Leinster v Glasgow (Saturday 3.15pm) via our live blogs on rte.ie/sport or on the RTÉ News app. Watch Leinster v Glasgow live on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
Listen to live commentary from Ulster v Munster on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra and updates from Leinster v Glasgow on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
