'Hurt' Sheehan relishing La Rochelle rematch 

'A big focus for us is making sure that we are peaking for the finals,' said Dan Sheehan.

THAT'LL DO: Leinster’s Dan Sheehan. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Dan Sheehan is relishing the opportunity to go toe-to-toe with La Rochelle once more as Leinster look forward to a Heineken Champions Cup final on home soil against the titleholders who denied them a fifth European star 12 months ago.

La Rochelle’s demolition of Exeter Chiefs in Bordeaux may have been as comprehensive a victory a team could wish to have in the last four of a knockout competition, but it will not have had the Ireland hooker shifting uncomfortably in his armchair on Sunday afternoon given the confidence oozing through the Leinster players following their own semi-final win over Toulouse 24 hours earlier.

For Sheehan, Leinster’s success on Saturday gave them an opportunity to make amends for their 24-21 last-gasp loss to Ronan O’Gara’s team at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome when the 2023 final comes to Dublin on May 20.

Speaking 24 hours ahead of the second semi-final between the 2022 and 2020 champions at Stade Mahmut Atlantique and having helped Leinster with the third try of five in a 41-22 defeat of Toulouse, Sheehan said: “It would be nice to get La Rochelle again. That one hurt us last year.

“To get another swipe again especially here at the Aviva in front of the home crowd would be something special.” 

Sheehan was also talking in the belief that Leinster have improved since last year’s final and added: “The season we have had, the depth that we have in the squad. I think that our set-piece has been excellent so far this year. 

"We are an improved squad this year, we have that winning mentality and hopefully now in a few weeks we will come fully prepped and be able to do the job.” 

With a near full-house having cheered Leinster on against Toulouse, the 24-year-old Dubliner is also eagerly anticipating playing the final at Aviva Stadium as the province aims to reclaim a first Champions Cup title since 2018 while also bidding to win back the BKT URC crown they lost to Stormers after the Bulls sprang a surprise on them in the semi-final at the RDS, ending a run of four consecutive titles in the competition.

“That was a brilliant game out there, an entertaining game for me to play in. I would say that it was an entertaining game to watch. We talk about it all the time, the Aviva is something special to us.

“We said at the start of the season that it was going to come down to (playing the big matches) at the Aviva. We have had good seasons in the past up to now.

"Last year was a good example we get to a (Champions Cup) final, we get to a URC (semi-final) and we blow it. A big focus for us is making sure that we are peaking for the finals. I think there is plenty more in us. We want to peak here for the finals.”