Gordon D’Arcy: Racing will not live with Leinster for 80 minutes

Leinster never needed to lose a final to learn how to win a final. There had been enough suffering by the time we got to Murrayfield in 2009.

Leo Cullen’s team find themselves in a similar position this weekend; having proved how good they are, all that remains is to capture the trophy in Bilbao.

Then and now, Grand Slam joy was quickly shelved. Beating Munster, when it mattered, was the penultimate hurdle but we still needed to deliver against Leicester. We needed to perform when everyone expected us to.

By 2009, we no longer cared how we did it. All that mattered was performing in the moment.

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The Michael Cheika footprint was visible in the two titles that followed under Joe Schmidt: an unbreakable mental resolve that remains an important part of Leinster's DNA.

Cheika made training so brutal that almost every player failed at some point under his watch. Adversity became our ally. You either toughed it out, got injured or were unable to pull yourself off the turf due to exhaustion. Roaring accusations followed and these harsh words rang in your ears that night. You’d sit at home with a decision to make: do I go back tomorrow? Cheika made it very clear: if you can’t stomach the environment someone else would fill your jersey.

It was a ruthless, emotionless leadership but it was what we needed. With Cheika the ends justified the means.

Like Scott Fardy, James Lowe and Isa Nacewa (part two) are new members of the current squad; Isa (part one), Rocky Elsom and CJ van der Linde were added in the summer of 2008.

There are more parallels. The grit showed to beat Harlequins at The Stoop was evident in Sandy Park last December when Exeter, the English champions, were methodically taken apart. The similarities continued when blowing the European champions away – Munster at Croke Park and Saracens in this season's quarter-final.

One more step for history’s cyclical nature to reappear.

In 2011, it was a slightly different approach. We became more than the sum of our parts against Northampton. In 2012, we had a great belief in our own ability to control the outcome of games (helped by Ulster celebrating before the final).

But 2009 opened a new highway for the entire organisation. That has a lot to do with Adidas now coming on board and why so many Leinster-born players are needed in other provinces.

This team should win a fourth European title. The number 10 and fullback return along with a superior Cian Healy and Devin Toner, who each carry vital experience from those days.

Racing 92 will offer enormous resistance but during their defeat of Munster an old flaw reappeared: their spurts of power are not sustainable over 80 minutes.

Also, Maxime Machenaud makes the Parisians such an effective force.

Same as Conor Murray for Munster, it is the scrumhalf not outhalf who instinctively increases and slows the tempo.

When Racing forwards inevitably barge over the gain line, Machenaud knows how to launch Teddy Thomas or Virimi Vakatawa through the fractured defence. They are the best team in Europe at turning a half break into seven points.

Now Machenaud is injured, will they alter their entire philosophy by looking to Dan Carter for inspiration?

This is what happened in the 2016 Top 14 final against Toulon when Machenaud was red carded after 18 minutes. That achievement alone must be respected. Racing fully believe they will find a way to win, same as Leinster, by any means.

But they have consistently struggled to rediscover their periods of dominance. It’s almost as if they have a 60-minute window to win every game.

Their pack will take control at some stage. How Leinster cope during these bombardments should decide the game. If, like Munster, they cough up 27 points it will become a near impossible task but we know from the Saracens and Scarlets victories that they are capable of posting 30 points against any opposition.

The 2018 European champions will have to wrestle back possession after weathering a heavy storm. That will be the winning of this game.

Racing were unable to do this against Munster. They had enough to beat them in Bordeaux because they caused so much damage in the opening 30 minutes.

Thomas has done enough damage to Irish defences this season.

Easy to say Leinster being forewarned will be enough to snuff him out. And Vakatawa. There is no way of fully clamping down on their electric runners while defending on the back foot.

Dagger to the heart

I know the pain of getting a defensive read wrong in a big game. It was the 2010 Pro12 final when the Ospreys cut us open because I was caught by Andrew Bishop's superb line. I couldn't reposition myself in time to stop Tommy Bowe strolling over untouched. We had been working all season on higher line speed but when you are a fraction off – and that's all it was – it's like a dagger to the heart.

Vakatawa is devastating off front foot ball, with a lethal offload, but Stuart Lancaster and the Leinster analysis should target his defence. The Fijian winger is not an outside centre. Watch how he seeks to read the Leinster attack, almost always wanting to nail man and ball.

This is an opportunity for Garry Ringrose. Munster were unable to expose Vakatawa because they had to scrap for any sort of foothold in the semi-final. Sam Arnold and Rory Scannell were unable to pose the same threats that Robbie Henshaw and Ringrose will provide. The 13 needs to defend and tackle as each situation dictates, not always waiting for the "king hit" which Vakatawa sees as his starting point.

Ideally Johnny Sexton will set a trap before putting Lowe clear.

As we have seen from Leinster over the years, there are multiple ways of enticing the big Fijian to step up and in.

They should also generate several scoring opportunities in broken play. Watch how sluggish and disorganised Racing can become in transition.

Munster, off a turnover, put boot to ball when faced with a four-on-two situation. I expect Leinster to keep ball in hand and make the correct decisions under stifling pressure.

Also watch the drop in energy levels from Racing's front five. Leone Nakarawa is a phenomenal athlete but in Bordeaux he fell miles off the pace before the hour mark. He wasn't the only one walking back into the line.

They are hugely destructive team when faced by direct ball carriers but Sexton should drag them all over the place in midfield. To counter being so slow to get back onside expect one Racing player to always contest the breakdown. Munster couldn't make inroads because a solitary player slowed their ball. If Leinster are permitted quick possession – and this means removing Eddy Ben Arous and Yannick Nyanga the same way Tadhg Beirne was shunted in the semi-final - then the points will flow.

Scott Fardy and others will be aware of this.

To have any hope Racing must challenge Sexton's dominance. For me that means Carter must start. Pat Lambie is more of an outhalf/fullback hybrid, they have no second playmaker in midfield and looking at Carter's impact off the bench away to Clermont in the quarter-final, they cannot afford to wait that long.

Carter manages and directs a pack of forwards like only one other player. It’s about which 10 is gifted the most ball.

And which Ryan will dominate? It’s another huge game for the unbeaten James Ryan but in a very short space of time Donnacha has become the heartbeat of this Racing pack.

The backrows are very difficult to separate unless Dan Leavy neutralises Nyanga to confirm his arrival as the best flanker in the game.

Finals do funny things to your mind. In 2009, we were fuelled by a fear of more failure after a decade of not realising our true potential.

Victor Costello, Reggie Corrigan, Denis Hickie and others had retired with regrets about 2003 and 2006. We changed that narrative. Cullen has lived all of this and more. Leinster leaders to make the difference.