Tony Ward: My only advice for Leo Cullen is this – keep the mouth shut and let the players do the talking

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen and captain Caelan Doris after their side's victory in the Investec Champions Cup semi-final. Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

In the end, Leinster got there and, on balance, it was deserved. They were more than marginally the better of two hugely committed squads in a typically tense knockout semi-final.

It wasn’t pretty, it was never going to be, but it was winner-takes-all rugby and Leinster can now look forward to a ninth Champions Cup final and a return to Bilbao for a shot at star No 5 following four unsuccessful final-day attempts since that last outright success at the same venue in 2018.