Can Leinster end Champions Cup pain against Toulouse?

Josh van der Flier's tears said it all.

At the end of a scintillating Champions Cup final 12 months ago, as the La Rochelle players celebrated one of European rugby's all-time comebacks, the World Rugby player of the year broke down as the devastation of another near-miss set in.

Leinster also lost the 2022 final to La Rochelle in dramatic circumstances but last year felt particularly painful.

That was partly because the 2023 showpiece was held at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, where several of the Leinster players had clinched the Six Nations Grand Slam with Ireland just two months earlier.

It was also partly down to the ignominy of letting slip a 17-0 lead to eventually lose 27-26, a second-half collapse only deepening the pain for those in blue.

Leinster won four Champions Cups between 2009 and 2018. In the six years since, they have lost three finals. The pressure to deliver a record-equalling fifth title has only grown with each defeat.

But failure is life's great teacher and this season Leinster have already banished some demons ahead of Saturday's final in London against another French giant in Toulouse.

This season was always going to be different for Leinster. Senior coach Stuart Lancaster, a key architect of the club's 2018 European triumph, left for Racing 92 while talismanic fly-half Johnny Sexton retired after the World Cup.

To offset Lancaster's departure, Leinster issued an unmistakable statement of intent by bringing in Jacques Nienaber, the defensive mastermind behind South Africa's World Cup triumphs in 2019 and 2023.

They began the season seeking redemption on two fronts, of course, having fallen to rivals Munster in the United Rugby Championship semi-finals a week prior to their collapse against La Rochelle.

But while reclaiming the league title remains a possibility in the weeks ahead, extinguishing the continental hurt of recent years has been this group's driving ambition.

And they have certainly navigated their European mission with aplomb, winning all seven matches en route to the final including two morale-boosting wins over La Rochelle: in Stade Marcel-Deflandre in their Pool D opener and in Dublin last month, a dominant 40-13 success ending Ronan O'Gara's side's three-in-a-row dream.

There have been bruising tests of character in this run, too. Against Northampton in the semi-final, Leinster surged into a 20-3 lead thanks to James Lowe's superb hat-trick, which took the Ireland wing to six tries in this season's competition.

Leinster had thrilled a sold-out Croke Park, but when a converted Tom Seabrook try brought the Saints back to within three points, the home fans began to fear a harrowing sequel to La Rochelle's heroics.

Instead, Leinster came through a nail-biting experience to secure another shot at winning European club rugby's most coveted prize. In the context of what Leinster have been through in recent years, it was a huge win.

Having been reduced to tears at the end of last year's final, Josh van der Flier was all smile after Leinster's nail-biting win over Northampton at Croke Park

There has been positive news on the injury front for Leo Cullen's side, too. Versatile Ireland back Jimmy O'Brien returned from a four-month injury lay-off against Northampton while full-back Hugo Keenan and second row James Ryan made their comebacks against Ulster last week.

A return to action for Garry Ringrose, who has not played since the Six Nations, on Saturday would further strengthen Cullen's hand.

For that loss to Ulster in Belfast, Cullen rested his first-choice Champions Cup starting line-up.

And having taken a heavily rotated squad to South Africa for defeats by the Lions and Stormers last month, the Leinster boss has, like in previous years, made no bones about which competition he is prioritising.

Dupont-led Toulouse stand in Leinster's way

Blair Kinghorn (left) has scored four tries in this season's Champions Cup while Antoine Dupont has crossed five times

And with Toulouse standing in the way, it is hard to blame Cullen for such an approach.

Toulouse are the Champions Cup's most decorated team. The last of their five titles came back in 2021, and while Leinster beat them convincingly in the 2022 and 2023 semi-finals, Ugo Mola's side have been irresistible in this year's competition, averaging more than 44 points per game.

In the quarter-finals, they ruthlessly demonstrated their destructive power with nine tries to swat Exeter aside before having to emulate Leinster's stubbornness as they withstood a second-half comeback from Harlequins in the semi-final.

With France captain Antoine Dupont, Scotland's Blair Kinghorn and fit-again fly-half Romain Ntamack - who missed Les Bleus' World Cup campaign with an ACL injury - in their backline, Toulouse's free-scoring exploits are hardly surprising.

Make no mistake: stopping the red machine will be the ultimate test for the defensive system Leinster have fine-tuned under Nienaber over the past six months.

Last year, Leinster became the first team since the Champions Cup's formation to lose successive finals. Falling short in yet another showpiece would only reinforce the sense of this group's unfulfilled potential.