Donal Lenihan: Leinster earn their Croke Park moment 

From here on in, it’s all about getting the job done.

WINGING IT: Leinster’s James Lowe battles past La Rochelle’s Jack Nowell to touch down for their opening try in the Champions Cup quarter-final at the Aviva Stadium. Pic: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

STANDING pitchside on television duty, within touching distance of the Leinster players going through their pre-match warm-up routines, you could sense the tension in the air.

Leinster had reached the point of no return. With a line drawn in the sand, this was their 2009 Croke Park moment when a world record crowd for a club rugby game of 82,208 turned up for a Heineken Cup semi-final between holders Munster, who, only a week earlier, had eight players, including captain Paul O’Connell, selected in the British and Irish Lions squad to tour South Africa.