Springbok & All Black stars the key to Leinster's Euro campaign

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT: After seven years without European rugby's most coveted prize and four Final defeats in the last six seasons, Leinster could snap their Champions Cup drought, thanks to the influence of Springboks and All Blacks stars.

Leinster are currently in great form, they are at the summit of the United Rugby Championship and fresh from a win over Springbok-laden Sharks in Durban.

Unfortunately, they have not had the same luck in the Champions Cup.

However, with multiple runs of near-misses, the four-time Euro winners could finally end their wait and their must-wanted fifth star to their jersey.

Ireland flank Josh van der Flier believes they have the right formula to put those past heartaches behind them, especially with the injection of southern hemisphere talent, on the pitch and the touchlines.

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"It's obviously been a tricky few years for us, having not succeeded in bringing trophies home. At the back of our minds, yes, the goal is to win every tournament that we are in," Van der Flier said.

"We have had plenty of opportunities, and we've spoken a lot about them as a team. But the focus has to be to try and get to the end of the season and say we did everything we could, we worked really hard, we gave it our all, and we performed as well as we could at the time.

"Whereas if you get very results driven, you probably tend to put a bit too much pressure on yourself and you probably don't play with that freedom. There is always a balance.

"It may sound cliched and maybe simple, but that is how I try and frame it, and I think that's the same throughout the group."

He added: "There is a huge amount of experience we can draw on from within the group as well.

"Jacques Nienaber has had success as a coach, and RG [Snyman] has had success as a player. They have obviously both won the World Cup, and Jordie Barrett has had a lot of success with New Zealand."

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Van der Flier, who turns 32 at the end of April, stressed that Leinster haven't ripped up the playbook or tried anything revolutionary.

"It is easy to go back to the drawing board, but there has to be a bit of a reality check because we have played well and been pretty consistent these last few years, and it has only been the last game in Europe in the last few years.

"Things could have easily gone the other way, and we'd have been talking about having won a few of them. It is always fine margins in sport, so it would be silly to completely go away from what we have been doing."

Van der Flier admitted in Tuesday's media session that this is something he has struggled with in the past, describing himself as "a rugby obsessive".

But the winter sunshine breaks in North Africa, and his passion for golf, whether it is reading about it or practicing putting in the living room, has helped him to detox from the sport he has played professionally for over a decade.

The Dubliner also credits defence coach Nienaber for his skill in getting everyone in the Leinster squad in the right frame of mind, as well as his obvious technical expertise.

"From a technical point of view, he adds a huge amount in terms of individual things in defence and tackling, but his real USP is within the team environment.

"He adds so much in terms of the attitude people should have, and that's motivating for the whole group," explained the Irish flanker, who is looking forward to playing at Croke Park this weekend.

With 60,000 tickets already sold for the game at the iconic Croke Park, Saturday's game should be some occasion.

The only time that Leinster have played Harlequins since the infamous Bloodgate match was home-and-away during the 2014/15 season, when the home team prevailed on each occasion, so this is one of those rare cross-border meetings that tend to make the Champions Cup special.

"There is a huge amount of history both inside and outside of sport that goes with the stadium, and that makes it a very cool place to play."

*Additional Source:  Rugbypass