Caelan Doris (Leinster captain): “We don’t want to experience these feelings anymore”

“Can your two defeats against La Rochelle, during the 2022 and 2023 finals, be a source of motivation before facing Toulouse on Saturday?
We know that we have an opportunity to do something special, with a group where everyone is very close: some of your teammates who are your best friends. Our supporters are incredible too. To win in front of them would be incredible. That’s what keeps us moving forward, and there’s also the pain, when we think back to the state of the locker room after the finals the last two years, those feelings when we woke up on the Sunday and Monday that followed. . We no longer want to know them, these sensations. We talked about it at the start of the week, if it ever came back to mind, how much we would want to give everything to have another chance to win, so we left nothing undone in our preparation.

“This group believes strongly in itself, in what Jacques Nienaber brought us, between his experience and the defensive system”

Have you changed anything in your preparation after your last two finals lost against La Rochelle?
Not a lot. We took the time we needed to understand Toulouse, their game, and what they will offer us. And we know them because of the two semi-finals we played against them, so that’s what kept us busy at the start of the week. Then we put the emphasis back on ourselves, what we can do, our specificities, and all the little things that we know we are capable of. This group believes strongly in itself, in what Jacques Nienaber brought us, between his experience and the defensive system. There is a lot of excitement.

Jacques Nienaber said when he arrived, after the World Cup that he won with the Springboks, that you would need a little time to get used to the defensive system?
If you look at our first half against Northampton, it was good and showed all our progress. Now everyone is on board. Of course, with the qualities of Toulouse in attack, their ability to score more than 40 points, we will have to be very vigilant, and we know that there will be times when we lose the ball, our defensive line will be chipped, so much they have quality. But we will have to make the necessary efforts, work and enjoy what we are doing! It will be a test, and we can’t wait.

You enter this match with six forwards on the substitutes’ bench. What do they bring you?
There is quality, and when you see their names, all the guys know that they can give everything without calculation on the pitch, because these replacements will come in and finish the job. It boosts our confidence. »