Hugo Keenan says Ireland's World Cup frustration can fuel Leinster’s season as they bid to regain Champions Cup and URC titles.
Leo Cullen’s side last lifted silverware in 2021 when they won the then-Pro14 and were beaten in the last two European finals, both times by La Rochelle, who are Leinster’s opponents in round one of the competition in two weeks’ time.
First comes the 169th meeting with rivals Munster, who won the URC last season, defeating Leinster in the semi-final.
The sides clash in round six of the BKT URC at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday [6.30pm].
Keenan returned to action with a man-of-the-match showing over Scarlets last weekend and believes the disappointment of losing to New Zealand at the quarter-final stage in France can provide extra motivation for the 18 Leinster players who were involved.
"I’m not going to lie, [the weeks after have] been a bit grim. It was heartbreaking, how the World Cup ended for us, and it’s not something you get over quickly," Keenan [above] told RTÉ Sport.
"We were all delighted to get back into Leinster about two weeks ago and excited to get back in the RDS, putting on the Leinster jersey again.
"That’s probably the only way you can get over these things, get back playing rugby, get back focused on what you can do next.
"It’s exciting times for us with Munster down the line this week and the Cup around the corner with La Rochelle and Sale, big fixtures to come and that will motivate you pretty quickly."
Asked if there had been a review of the quarter-final against New Zealand, which Ireland lost 28-24 after topping their pool, the full-back said: "Not as a group, no.
"That’s the nature of knockout rugby and especially international rugby, when you are out, you’re out. You don’t really get a chance to review things as a team.
"You have discussions as players but it’s about getting over it together and we had a tough couple of weeks but we stuck together.
"We like to think we’ve gotten stronger from it as well and we’ll use it to motivate us in the future, with Leinster, firstly, and with Ireland in the future as well."
The 27-year-old, who this week ruled out a return to Ireland Sevens ahead of next year’s Olympics, didn’t feature in last season’s semi-final loss to Munster [below].
He added: "We are still hurting from the loss last year. Everybody this week wants to be out there.
"There are a lot of lads vying for those positions with lads coming back from the World Cup and then lads doing a great job while some of us were away.
"It’s a competitive squad and it’s brilliant to have that hunger in the squad.
"Everybody is keen to get out there and put things right.
"It’s exciting times, as I say, big matches to come and a bit of revenge in the next two, please God, as well."
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Watch live coverage of Bulls v Connacht in the BKT United Rugby Championship on Saturday from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
Follow a live blog of Leinster v Munster on Saturday from 6.30pm on on www.rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
