Sexton wants Leinster to utilise European experience

Sexton wants Leinster to utilise European experience

Johnny Sexton urged Leinster Rugby to draw on their past experiences after leading them into the Heineken Champions Cup final.

Leinster’s captain was named Heineken Star of the Match as the Irish province powered past Stade Toulousain 40-17 to set up a final clash with Stade Rochelais.

Sexton won the trophy with Leinster in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2018, but lost out to Saracens in the 2019 final.

Reflecting on their latest semi-final victory, Sexton told BT Sport: “I’m incredibly proud. Any time you get to a final, you’re extremely happy, but in some ways it’s only half done.

“The last time we were in the final, against Saracens, we got outplayed. It was a special day in Newcastle for the wrong reasons.


“Our crowd turned up, but we just didn’t on the day. We’ve got to learn from that lesson and hopefully, we can go one step further this year.”

While Leinster have four final wins and one defeat in their locker, Sexton believes they must channel their past ups and downs if they are to defeat La Rochelle, rather than just the pain of their 2019 loss.


He said: “I think it’s the experiences, both positive and negative. We have the Saracens final to look back on, but we have also been a champion team before and we can look back on that as largely the same group.

       
       

“There hasn’t been a lot of change over the years, so we are going to draw on all those experiences and try and go one step further.”

Sexton’s creative powers were again on show as Leinster saw off Toulouse.

Asked how enjoyable he is still finding the game, he replied: “Incredibly so.

“Both environments I’m lucky to be part of in Leinster and Ireland. That’s why I’m still playing because I absolutely love training every day with these guys and the management in both camps.

“I’m still loving it and hopefully proving my worth.”

Sexton was delighted with the level Leinster reached against Toulouse, but felt their opponents were still feeling the effects of their dramatic penalty-kick quarter-final victory over Munster Rugby.

He said: “We train hard and we pride ourselves on that. Stuart [Lancaster] works us hard during the week. But at the same time we knew Toulouse played 100 minutes last week and the emotional game that they went through.

“Munster softened them up for us a bit and they came here probably not at their best, but we were close to it. We need to go again for the final.”

                   
                   
                   

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