Leinster left reeling by familiar faces as La Rochelle march onto final

It will be first-timers La Rochelle, not Leinster, going to Twickenham on May 22 for an all-French Heineken Champions Cup final against Toulouse

MAKING AN IMPACT: Leinster’s Garry Ringrose ships a heavy challenge in yesterday’s Heineken Champions Cup semi-final against La Rochelle in Stade Marcel Deflandre. Picture: INPHO/Dave Winter

It is one of the great maxims in sport that you have to suffer in order to find success and Leo Cullen did plenty of the former before experiencing the latter.

As he left the visitor’s dressing room at Stade Marcel Deflandre yesterday, the head coach detected the same pain he had felt before the first of his four European titles, within a new generation of Leinster players.