Rónan Kelleher believes the manner of Leinster's Investec Champions Cup semi-final victory over Northampton will stand to the team when they face Toulouse in the decider.
Leo Cullen’s side were in control at 20-3 up against the English Premiership leaders with 22 minutes to play at Croke Park on Saturday.
The Saints were struggling to respond to James Lowe’s hat-trick but converted tries from George Hendy and Tom Seabrook, allied to a missed penalty by Ross Byrne, made for a nervy ending in front of a full house at GAA HQ.
Leinster needed Jack Conan to come up with a late jackal penalty after the visitors had turned the ball over and made their way up to the hosts’ 22.
"A little bit too exciting maybe at the end," was how Cullen put it after the 20-17 success.
But semi-finals are about winning and the four-time champs now have three weeks to look at what went wrong as they wilted in the final quarter.
"It’s great for us now that happened," said Ireland hooker Kelleher, who made his 59th appearance for the province as a second-half replacement for Dan Sheehan.
"[There are] loads of learnings that are going to come from that game.
"[We’re] happy to get over the line, nervy ending, but I suppose we kinda parked it and enjoyed the occasion because we hadn’t really been able to soak much of it in.
"You’re playing at Croke Park, it’s obviously a massive occasion for so much of this group, who would have grown up playing Gaelic football.
"It was just incredible. I didn’t really read too much into it at the end, so we will probably get our learnings on Monday and try to kick on.
"[I] suppose a big thing when that happens is trying to get the ball back and when you do, don’t cough it up cheaply, which we potentially did on one or two occasions, and that just allowed them attack.
"We know they are an unbelievably good attacking team so we paid the price for that in that purple patch for them."
Leinster, second in the URC standings, will face Ospreys and Ulster on the next two weekends before all attention turns to the European final in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday 25 May where five-time winners Toulouse, who beat Harlequins yesterday, await.
The 26-year-old is a soccer fan but hasn’t visited the new stadium yet.
"It will be great," said the Dubliner, a West Brom fan.
It will be Leinster’s fourth final appearance since their last victory, against Racing 92 back in 2018.
"So much work has gone in all year, the last three years really," he said.
"So it is just making sure that we put our best foot forward in the final, leave no stone unturned and give ourselves the best opportunity of winning that final.
"I think [we’re a better team now]. Those experiences have really stood to us.
"We learned a lot of lessons and you probably saw some of them in that La Rochelle game in the quarters and just for us as a group that experience has been really good."
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