European Champions Cup final: Unrivalled depth driving the Leinster juggernaut

Leinster are seeking to become champions of Europe for a record-equalling fifth time

Amid a host of commercial aspirations, it was hoped the birth of the United Rugby Championship would give rise to a more competitive field in a league that had been badly struggling to catch the eye.

In the era of the Pro14, Leinster were its gift and curse; perennial winners whose bulldozing of other sides on their way to four-straight titles did nothing for the neutral, but the only genuinely elite side the league had on its roster.

The introduction of the four South African sides delivered on the promise of a more appealing product, with the battle for European spots and home play-off quarter-finals going down to the final weekend.

It didn't change everything, though.

"This year it took Leinster all the way to the second last game to get their normal spot at the top," laughed Ulster head coach Dan McFarland.

Top seed with the promise of home ties up to and including the final, should they reach it, was delivered without fuss. Leo Cullen's side continue to dominate the league like a side with the majority of the Ireland team in their squad perhaps ought to.

That's the thing though, Leinster's Ireland contingent didn't really play that much.

By and large they play a supporting role in the URC, and trust their team-mates to do the legwork. It's the European Champions Cup where their big guns come to the party, and they will be out in force in Marseille on Saturday.

Of the 13 Ireland internationals that started the province's semi-final dismantling of Toulouse, not one of them played in more than a third of their 18 league matches.

In fact, all of them played more international Test matches this season than they did league games, with the exception of James Lowe who played six of each.

So, the increased competition in the URC - which still concluded with Leinster reigning supreme - comes with the caveat that the best team rarely used their best players.

Last weekend academy scrum-half Ben Murphy came on against Munster to become the 60th player to play for Leinster this season.

Ben Murphy came off the bench in Leinster's win over Munster to become the province's 60th player used this season

That win over their inter-provincial rivals - who came to Dublin close to fully loaded with Joey Carbery, Conor Murray and Andrew Conway among their starters - was delivered by something between their second and third string team, and served as a reminder of their peerless depth.

It is conceivable that none of the 23-man squad who swept aside Munster, very much among the URC's 'best of the rest', will make the matchday squad for Saturday's Champions Cup final.

Jordan Larmour's twinkle-toed brilliance might have earned him a spot on the bench, but there don't seem to be too many more spots up for grabs.

Leinster's depth is such that they do not rotate, but swap out their entire team when the stakes get higher.

Plainly, the major benefit here is the freshness with which their players come into big games. In the dying throes of the season the province's biggest stars are unlikely to be suffering from fatigue.

Of those 13 internationals that started against Toulouse, only Josh van der Flier and Garry Ringrose have played more than 20 games for club and country since the season began in September.

Better still, when their biggest players play, they usually do so together. No other group of players who juggle international and club commitments enjoy the same level of year-round consistency regarding the players around them. Eddie Jones wasn't wrong when he bestowed the crown of world's most cohesive side onto Ireland.

Johnny Sexton has not played a league match since October

Cultivating a squad so big that entirely different playing panels can fight for silverware on two fronts allows for careful workload management - crucial to the success of both the province and Ireland, but also to the longevity of the individual.

Experienced Ireland international Johnny Sexton, for example, now plays almost exclusively international Tests or European club rugby. He was handed his three league appearances at the start of the season, the last of which came on 16 October, so he could shake off any rust after a rare summer off.

With retirement on the horizon after next year's World Cup, Leinster and Ireland's aim is to maintain the best version of Sexton right up to his final game by capping the amount of minutes he plays over the course of the season but ensuring that when he does play, it is against elite opposition.

It's a set-up that has caught the eye of Sexton's once foe, now friend Ronan O'Gara - whose La Rochelle side stand between Leinster and a fifth European crown.

"Twelve months ago, Johnny probably wasn't playing as good as rugby as he is now," acknowledged O'Gara.

"First of all, he is a great competitor and he loves rugby. People forget that, rugby is such a great game so you play it for as long as you can."

If the aim is to be in a condition to play as long as possible at the highest level, there are surely few better landing spots than Leinster.

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