Leinster's pipeline still pours private while outsiders struggle to stay afloat 

If Tadhg Furlong’s calf doesn’t heal, there will be no Leinster Youth graduates in Euro final squad while Blackrock and St Michael’s are likely to have nine representatives 

You can be like us...maybe: Leinster's Tadhg Furlong and Sean O'Brien speak to a Leinster Rugby Summer Camp in 2017. The pair, along with Shane Horgan, are Leinster's only Youth graduates to make it to a European final for the province. Pic: Matt Browne/Sportsfile

Shane Horgan was the first. Add in Sean O’Brien and Tadhg Furlong and you have the Holy Trinity that has made it all the way from the Leinster Youths system and onto the exclusive roll call of just 54 players who have played for the province in one of their five European Cup finals to date.

Leinster have been operating a Youths system since the early 2000s and it has produced a string of excellent rugby players. Plenty have gone on to feature for their home province, more again found a home in Belfast, Limerick or Galway. Another cohort has etched out a professional career abroad.