Stars in their eyes - Leinster aiming high but must keep cool

Stars in their eyes, plaudits ringing in their ears, a penny for the thoughts of Leo Cullen.

What the Leinster boss wouldn't have given for La Rochelle or Racing 92 to have pulled out all the stops and beaten the other with a frightful tour de force.

Instead, the two French outfits, who met in Lens yesterday, huffed and puffed, neither having the guile or necessary dispassion to put the other away with any conviction.

In the end it was Stade Rochelais, under director of rugby Ronan O’Gara, who fell over the line, winning on a 20-13 scoreline.

Meanwhile, Leinster produced one of their best showings in years in dispatching the reigning champions at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

They are already 12-point favourites and the noise is only going to get louder over the next 12 days.

Cullen's thoughts will be to try and drown it out.

O’Gara’s men, who beat Leinster in last year’s semi-final, missed 19 tackles, failed to score when Racing were down to 13 players, missed five of six kicks at goal and conceded 12 penalties.

As a way of laying down a marker, it was a tissue thrown on the ground.

Fair to say the former Munster and Ireland out-half has got some 'work-ons' ahead of the final in Marseille on Saturday week.

The result, however, brings O’Gara back into the mainstream Irish rugby narrative for the next two weeks, not that he’s ever too far away from discussions on new appointments.

Sexton sat out on last year’s loss when the sides met and later revealed that he could have played, but decided to delay his return from injury ahead of what he thought was going to be a busier period that eventually panned out.

Starting off as provincial rivals, the pair became international team-mates, then coach and player at Racing, and the two are now