‘If we get a win, that will be the icing on the cake’ – Leinster coach Robin McBryde taking philosophical approach

Their three most recent final defeats have left a mark, but the coaches have addressed that hurt in the hope they’ll be able to embrace the challenge of facing Toulouse in what has been billed as a final for the ages.

To set the tone, the province put forward their Welsh forwards coach, Robin McBryde, who put a more equivocal spin on success and failure than we’re used to in UCD.

“Everybody’s different,” he said. “Losing and winning doesn’t determine how happy I am. I’m happy, I know my face doesn’t give a lot away.

“You’d prefer to win, obviously, but I enjoy going through the process.

​“Today, tomorrow, sitting down with groups of players, coming up with plans for this and that, coming up with new ideas, just throwing things around and you come up with a plan, then you get to execute the plan on the weekend.

“When you see them executing and you see the growth in the players, that’s what stimulates me. Yeah, we didn’t win the final on the last two occasions, but I still look back on those two finals and did I enjoy it?

“Yeah, I enjoyed those finals. I know we lost, yeah, but if you’re going to hinge the happiness or quality of your life on winning all the time … everybody’s different. That doesn’t really bother me. If we get a win, that will be the icing on the cake.

“We’ve still done the same journey, still put the same hours of work in. We need to learn the lessons and perform on Saturday. That’s the most important thing really – that we turn up, perform, believe in ourselves, give it a good crack.”

As well as poring over footage of Toulouse in action, there has been a focus on understanding what makes the most successful side in European rugby history tick.

“Jacques [Nienaber] is very good at looking at the soul of opposition teams,” McBryde said. “You look at the DNA of Toulouse, it hasn’t really changed that much. They are very comfortable in what they do and I’d say Leinster are probably similar to that as well. There is a lot of variety.

“There is an emphasis on the same aspects as well, it all starts from the set-piece, yeah, but there are certain things that energise you and drive you on to play a certain style, definitely watching Toulouse, they are very energised and when they get that speed of ball and are on the foot front, you see them at their best.

“Jacques has brought different language in terms of how he does certain things. Hopefully, I haven’t let the cat out of the bag or anything.

“That’s what it is, you can look at the make-up of the coaching staff, what they were good at as players, the traits they carry, what are they going to drive ... when you look at teams and analyse teams you can pretty much work out what their working week looks like, what areas they tend to spend the majority of their time on just by what you see at the weekend, week to week.

“You’ve got to remember what players you’re dealing with as well because you’re dealing with them week to week. You need to stimulate them, they need to be energised. Especially this time of the year, you’re not going to get to this time of the year and get to a final if you’re not happy with what you’re doing week in, week out.

“You’ve got to love it. It’s obvious they love the way they play and that goes hand-in-hand with success.

“Similar with us, we’re very comfortable with the way we play and you’re able to make small little adjustments,” he added.

As they study Toulouse’s soul, they can’t forget what makes them tick themselves. “You know, it’s very easy when you look at the opposition you’re playing, you forget who is playing in blue as well,” he said.

“You know what they are looking at when they’re looking at us. We’ve got to keep reminding ourselves of that this week and fire a few shots of our own.”

McBryde spoke about enjoying the week, but there are also big decisions to make around selection. It remains unlikely that Garry Ringrose will be fit, but the return to health of James Ryan, Hugo Keenan, Will Connors and Jimmy O’Brien has strengthened Leo Cullen’s hand as he assesses whether to go with a 5/3 or 6/2 bench split.

“It will be intense,” McBryde said of the selection meeting. “It was great to see the three lads coming back and taking part in the game on Saturday in a fantastic atmosphere at Ravenhill. That was brilliant and it was nip and tuck from the first minute until the last.

“You can’t recreate that type of environment for the players in order to bring them back to that sort of big-match feel, so it was great.

​“We didn’t win, I know, but in fairness to Ulster, they threw everything at us and it was good to get a shot across the bows in one or two aspects.

“But the more players you’ve got to choose from at this stage of the season, the better as it raises everything. There are a lot of things to consider [about the bench composition].

“We don’t tell you guys everything in regards to who we think has got it in them to go the full 80 [minutes] and who’s fit and what positions certain players can cover.

“There’s a lot of things in the mix, and on top of that, then there’s an argument you should finish with your strongest team, not start with it. So there’s a lot of things to throw in there, but I dare say after we’ve thrashed it out, Leo [Cullen] will pretty much get it right.”