Leinster are determined not to repeat past mistakes as they prepare to face Toulon in the Investec Champions Cup semi-final in Dublin on Saturday.
Leo Cullen’s men suffered a shock Vodacom URC defeat to Scarlets a year ago, which preceded their stunning Champions Cup semi-final exit against Northampton Saints.
On Saturday, four-time winners Leinster host Toulon at the Aviva Stadium following a surprise URC loss to Benetton at the weekend.
But Leinster forwards coach Robin McBryde insists the focus is firmly on the present.
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“What’s in my mind is that at the same stage of last season we went away to the Scarlets and lost before facing Northampton,” he said. “My learnings from that was don’t waste your time looking backwards. It’s all about Saturday in front.”
McBryde added: “There’s a Buddhist story about avoiding the second arrow. If you get shot in the back with an arrow, you spend so much time worrying about the first arrow you forget about where the second arrow is coming from.
“You just keep on piling on the misery of that metaphorical arrow. On the back of a loss, all those voices in your head saying, ‘you’re not good enough’, we’ve got to avoid all of that.”
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Prior to last year’s semi-final disappointment, Leinster lost three successive European cup finals to French opposition between 2022 and 2024, and Toulon pose another formidable challenge.
Captained by South African lock David Ribbans, the French side will arrive in the Irish capital in fine form.
“Listen, they’re very effective at doing what they do, but they’ve definitely got a strong maul that we’ve been looking at this week,” McBryde said. “And they’ve got a couple of individuals in the midst of them that are pretty experienced as well.
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“You’ve got Kyle Sinckler as a front rower, Ribbans, you’ve got [Charles] Ollivon as well who’s a menace in the air, as well as the other guy, [Esteban] Abadie. He’s got the most steals. So there’s little things like that that start to stand out to me as a forwards coach.”
The loss against Benetton brought a four-match winning run for Leinster to an end, yet McBryde highlighted: “You can’t ignore it. It’s there, but you can’t dwell on it. It is what it is. Move on.”
Photo: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images
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