Leinster's Jack Conan delivers stark message to team-mates ahead of URC final
Jack Conan admits Leinster's impressive URC semi-final victory will count for nothing if the Blues don't finish the job at Croke Park next week.
Conan, who is captaining the province in the absence of the injured Caelan Doris, says that Leinster are relishing the physical battle that awaits against the Bulls or the Sharks next Saturday in the decider after they dismissed defending champs Glasgow.
'Hugely," said the experienced No.8 after the 37-19 triumph. "But it's never about them, it's about us and what we want to do.
"Even though it was good today it was disappointing to concede those two tries close to the end and there's lots of things we want to get better at.
'It will all count for nothing if we don't go on and win again and show that level of dominance that we did today. We're not getting ahead of ourselves, we know it is going to be a tough task next week.'
Conan and the Leinster players knew that their Champions Cup failure had resulted in a feeling of negativity outside of the camp. But he insisted there was a belief within the group that they would bounce back from that defeat to Northampton Saints.
'We always knew we had it in us," he said. "It has obviously been a trying few weeks and a bit of disappointment and we said we want to go out there and be our best. We prepped well all week and the message from the coaches and players was spot on.
'When you play a team you play quite frequently, and that gives it back to you in spades, there is that motivation to do your best.
"We spoke just about being physical and dominant and we were for the majority and that is really pleasing. We'll use this as another stepping stone for next week.'
This was a more dominant performance from the Blues, in tune with their displays from earlier in the season. 'It's fantastic," said Conan. "When we show up and are properly on it we are very hard to deal with.
"The game couldn't have started much better for us, Sammy's (Prendergast) kickoff, Tommy's (O'Brien) turnover into the corner. Lads paying on the gainline, it paid dividends.'
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