Hugo Keenan says Leinster will go "all guns blazing" to win the BKT United Rugby Championship for injured captain Caelan Doris.
The province confirmed earlier today that the number 8 will be out of action for four to six months after undergoing shoulder surgery for an injury picked up in their Champions Cup defeat to Northampton nine days ago.
The 27-year-old Ireland skipper also misses out on a Lions tour, for which he had been touted as a possible captain.
"I have been in touch with him, we are all gutted for him," full-back Keenan told RTÉ Sport.
"He'd be one of my best mates, we lived together for two years. We get on so well. He’s our leader for what he does on and off the pitch.
"He’s so important for us but it means we have a bit more of a responsibility to do it for him, really, to make sure he’s lifting that URC [trophy] up.
"It might be with one hand at the end of the season but to do that for him [is important] because it’s a tough period for him.
"We can all say that he was going to be on that Lions plane but it’s just unfortunate timing.
"We are lucky to have a good bit of strength in depth in our back row and some unbelievable leaders in our squad as well, who will no doubt step up.
"That’s the challenge now for us to do it for him and without him."
The weekend’s 76-5 victory over Zebre secured top seeding for the play-offs ahead of the final regular-season game against Glasgow Warriors on Saturday at Aviva Stadium (7.35pm, live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).
Leinster have not lifted silverware since 2021 and have struggled in the last three years to find the right pitch for the URC play-offs.
They lost two semi-finals to the Bulls, in 2022 and 2024, shortly after heartbreaking Champions Cup final defeats, while they fielded a second-string outfit in the 2023 last-four clash with Munster, losing to a late Jack Crowley drop goal, the week before that season’s European final.
"There’s a lot to play for this season," said Keenan, who was one of 15 Leinster players selected for the British and Irish Lions tour last week.
"We know how much the URC means to us. We’re going all guns blazing into these few weeks.
"You have to take the learnings from the previous year or two on how to [motivate ourselves].
"We have to treat every game as important [as the next]. The lads proved that well on the weekend [against Zebre].
"There’s a few other lads in the same position as me who are going out with a point to prove about how much this URC means to us, and how we can’t be deflated and how we have to remotivate ourselves to go again and that’s the challenge.
"It’s also the beauty. The worst thing in rugby is losing a tough knockout game and then having nothing to play for.
"We’re lucky in that we’ve such a big competition to focus on now.
"We’ve never won the URC as it is, and it’s 2021 since we got our hands on the Pro14 so yeah, we’re really motivated and excited for the next few weeks."
Watch Leinster v Glasgow in the URC on Saturday from 7pm on the RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
