It's been nearly five months since Leinster’s dreams of a fifth Investec Champions Cup title came to a crashing halt against the Northampton Saints, and head coach Leo Cullen admits it’s a game that still takes up space in his mind.
The province ended their four-year wait for silverware in June when they impressively saw off the Bulls in the BKT United Rugby Championship final, but their wait for a fifth Champions Cup title is now into an eighth season after that shock defeat to the Saints in the semis.
With Antoine Dupont out and Toulouse looking vulnerable, Leinster had been viewed as red hot favourites for the Champions Cup, having held both Harlequins and Glasgow Warriors scoreless in the two previous rounds.
But they were ambushed by a sensational Northampton performance, as the Saints came out on top in a 37-34 thriller.
"You go through it and we played 28 competitive games, you lose three, obviously there's one that stands out in everyone’s mind, that’s the reality," Cullen said.
With the new season just around the corner, the Leinster coach was asked to reflect on the 2024/25 season, one which ended with a trophy lift, albeit not the trophy many of their fans dreamed of.
And in an honest assessment, he admitted complacency could have crept into the camp ahead of that Champions Cup semi-final.
"In big games, it's on the day, isn't it? That’s the bit you need to understand - getting it right on the day.
"And the problem is when you have a big win, you can get seduced into thinking you're very good and you try to guard always against complacency.
"So, you know, I would ask the question of ourselves, did we get seduced into thinking we're a little bit better than we were on the day that everyone's thinking about?
"I didn't even have to say it, but unfortunately, it's just one of those days.
"You get a very bad kick in the hole, you know, or however you want to phrase it - punch in the nose - and that's sport, it's cruel. It's a cruel day and you've just got to deal with the consequences afterwards.
"You've asked the question about reflecting on the season. I reflect on that specific game a lot," he added.
There aren't many tougher ways to start a United Rugby Championship season than a tour of Cape Town and Pretoria, but that’s what the province have ahead of them. Cullen will fly out to Cape Town with his squad this Saturday ahead of their season opener against the Stormers on Friday, 26 September.
Leinster will be without almost all of their British and Irish Lions contingent for those games against the Stormers and Bulls, although Jamie Osborne (below) and Thomas Clarkson could be involved, having had minor roles with the Lions in Australia.
RG Snyman will also be unavailable for that trip as he continues his involvement with the Springboks in the Rugby Championship, while All Black Rieko Ioane isn’t on deck until December.
As tough as the start to the season is, they could feel the benefits later in the campaign.
In the first four seasons of the URC, the province have had their two-game tour of South Africa in the final third of the campaign, after the Six Nations and right in that delicate period where they are trying to balance the URC run-in with the business end of the Champions Cup.
"We enjoy the trips, but there's a logistical challenge to them at different stages of the season," Cullen said.
"Last year came straight away after the Six Nations. There's a lot of moving parts. You're not quite sure who's sitting where."
Regardless of how they fare in South Africa in the opening two weekends, the expectation is that the defending champions will still be towards the top of the URC table heading into the final third of the regular season after the Six Nations finishes in March.
Getting two of their toughest away trips out of the way early on could make the post-Six Nations block less taxing on the players and coaches as they look to end their wait for a fifth Champions Cup title.
"I wouldn't necessarily be glad to have it behind you," Cullen added.
"Definitely less logistics for our ops [operations] gang. So, in that sense it's good, but it doesn't guarantee anything.
"You know, it's trying to get a group together. We’ve an exciting group that we think will travel and hopefully you see performances.
"I don't know if you’ve seen much of the Currie Cup that's going on at the moment. The URC teams are in the Currie Cup. They sort of loaded up their teams, didn't play their URC teams in the early stages, but loaded up towards the tail end.
"We’re maybe trying to get up to the speed of playing games, that’s the challenge for us when a lot of players are unavailable during the course of pre-season, but hopefully it'll stand to us then later in the season because in theory we should be fresher because guys have started the season later.
"But what does that stand for? I don't know."
The Lions tour has taken a toll on his squad, with Joe McCarthy sidelined until November, while Hugo Keenan is out until the new year following hip surgery.
But he dismissed the narrative that teams with a heavy Lions contingent can often struggle in the season after the tour.
"I've never heard that," he replied, when that suggestion was put to him.
"We just have to prove that wrong. That's all we can do. We understand it's a very challenging start to the season, because there's so many moving parts."
