Johnny Sexton has already played his 189th and last game in his 15th season with Leinster, while this Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup final against La Rochelle will be Stuart Lancaster’s 202nd and last game as a coach after seven seasons with the province.
Each has left a profound mark and, although they do not need any additional motivation against the team that denied them a record-equalling fifth star in last year’s final, everyone else in the squad will want to send the two men riding off into the sunset in a befitting manner.
This, according to Andrew Porter, is in the backs of their minds rather than said.
“It’s more understood, there hasn’t been much chat about it. We want to send them off on a high, but it is more so for the wider group, for everyone who has contributed to this week and put in the work for that jersey. And some lads have had to hang up the jerseys early this season in terms of JT [James Tracy] and Charlie Ryan to name just a few of them.
“It’s for guys like that, who have given so much to this club and unfortunately aren’t with us but have given a lot of their lives to this.”
Porter also recalled when Lancaster first entered the building at the start of the 2016-17 season.
“I was about 128 kilos and I was in his office one day and he was like, ‘right, if you can do my sessions at that weight, that’s fine but you are going to struggle.’ And I did. So, he made me find my fighting weight, getting it down to a level that I could compete and maintain during his sessions because they were tough and still are, to be fair.”
Porter’s optimum weight now is 114 to 116kg.
“I remember my first year with the under-20s I was 113 kilos and then the second year I was 130. It was more trial and error. I just wanted to get fitter because I was relatively new at that stage. I was still being weaned off the under-20s system then, so it was getting me ready for professional rugby. He was great with the stepping stones between my amateur and professional career.”
In this, Porter cites Lancaster’s influence on the mental side of the game, and on leadership.
“He also empowers the players to become leaders and nearly make himself as little involved as possible because he wants it to be player-led. That’s what he is great at, giving players the voice to basically have an opinion on whatever matter it is. He gives players the chance to lead the team and have a team of leaders rather than just one or two central figures in it.”
Like last year, Porter might again wish he’d retained some of that poundage come Saturday when scrummaging against Uini Atonio, circa 150kg, and behind him Will Skelton, circa 140kg.
“Having them on the same team is handy as well – and on the same side of the scrum. He [Atonio] is a man mountain really. He is able to get around the park and put in the minutes as well.”
Leinster were adept at shifting scrum ball away quickly in last season’s final and there will be a similar onus on the set pieces on Saturday “because they can get a scrum or a maul motoring fairly quickly”.
“It’s not just about that, though. It’s about being technical around the park in terms of your tackling because you can’t go high on these boys. You have to go low, or they’ll steamroller you. It’s just about being technically great in all areas, especially in a final against a team like La Rochelle. You are coming up against a team with very few chinks in their armour, but it is up to us to go and find them.”
Porter admits La Rochelle are different from Toulouse, pointing to their pack’s size and athletic ability, and cites the addition of UJ Seuteni’s distribution in midfield. “They have come on even more since last year.”
Yet he also feels this final pairing was virtually pre-ordained.
“Yeah, it’s something that has been written since the start of the season, since that loss in Marseilles. I couldn’t see a more fitting way to end the season than with a battle like this. It will be an incredibly tough game. We know what La Rochelle will bring, and we will look at last year and those defeats and use them to our advantage, use that hurt. Bottle it up for about a year and then put in a performance this week.”
Porter remembers going to the last final in Dublin when Toulon beat Clermont in 2013 and imagining what it would be like with Leinster there.
“To be able to do this is once-in-a-lifetime stuff. I don’t know when it will be back here again. We knew how much of an added advantage it was being in Marseilles last year with the French influence that was there. It felt like a La Rochelle home game nearly. We’re looking forward to being able to do it in our own back garden.”
