Sexton: This is our best side

THEY have yet to emulate the class of 2009 by claiming the Heineken Cup but Jonathan Sexton has already declared the current Leinster team a markedly superior side to the one which claimed the province’s first Heineken Cup title two years ago.

Joe Schmidt’s side will get the chance to prove just that on Saturday when they face Northampton Saints in this year’s decider but Sexton’s willingness to voice such an opinion on the week of a European final is testament to his, and his side’s, self-belief this season.

“We probably didn’t play great two years ago if you look at the performances,” he said. “We peaked against Munster and we sort of struggled through the final. We had a lot of individual brilliant players, Rocky, Felipe, guys like that who used to get us out of a hole the odd time.

“This year, I feel we’ve been a better rugby team and we have played better at times. We need to combine the two this weekend to get the win because Northampton are a quality side. We need to play well and still have that graft and hunger.”

Appetite should not be a factor. Ten of the 23-man squad named for the semi-final against Toulouse played no part in the final in Murrayfield 24 months ago and every man will be driven by the urge to elevate Leinster to a new plane in European rugby.

“A lot of teams win it once and never win it again but the great teams go on and win it twice or even more times. You look at Toulouse, Leicester, Munster, these are the teams which go hand in hand with the Heineken Cup and if we can win on Saturday it would put us in that category.”

Sexton has always been the type to speak plainly and he has good reason to approach Saturday’s tie at the Millennium Stadium with confidence given his performance in the final against Leicester Tigers two years ago.

Back then, he owed his central role to the injury suffered by Felipe Contepomi in the semi-final against Munster and he made the jump having spent the majority of the season warming the bench and listening to rumours of his impending departure from the club.

He looks back on it now as something of a win-win situation for a young man with little in the way of expectation weighing him down yet here he is, one of the senior members in a dressing room chock full of big-game players and personalities.

“From a personal point of view, last time I was just really thrown in there,” he explained. “This year, I’ve played every game, the majority of them. It would mean more to me this year to win it after playing all of the games and feeling more a part of it.”

This time, it is Sexton’s opposite number who will be the lesser heralded out-half — in the eyes of Irish supporters at least — but Stephen Myler is no babe in the woods and knows what it is to pilot a side to Euro glory.

Two years ago, the Widnes man kicked five penalties from five attempts as the Saints saw off Bourgoin in the Amlin Challenge final on the night before Sexton and Leinster claimed their Holy Grail in Scotland.

“He’s had a really good season. When your team is unbeaten in the Heineken Cup, you must be doing something right as an out-half. He’s got an outstanding pack in front of him. He’s got some pretty good backs and he’s doing a really good job.”

The odds may scream Leinster but finals have a tendency to be tight, edgy affairs and it is worth noting that no team has managed to score more than one try in a Heineken final since Wasps managed two in their defeat of Leicester in 2007.

Leinster’s own triumph two years later, when the Tigers were again the opposition, was typical of the modern trend with the sides claiming a five-pointer apiece but Sexton is adamant that Leinster will not leave their sense of adventure behind them this week.

“Any points we can take on offer we’ll go for it, whether it be drop goals or penalties but at the same time we’ll be going out to play. That’s been our sort of ethos for the whole season, to go out and play our type of game and attack with the ball.

“We’re not going to change it now just because it’s a final. That would be criminal, to go against everything we stand for. That’s what Joe (Schmidt) stands for, a running game. We’ll be playing with the ball when it suits and we’ll be kicking it when it needs to be kicked.”