Garry Ringrose returns to Bilbao for Leinster's Investec Champions Cup final against Bordeaux-Begles eight years after lifting the trophy in the same city, and the Irish centre admits memory of that 2018 win is mostly a wet, exhausted blur.
"It's a pretty exceptional stadium and I remember the atmosphere was amazing there," Ringrose said in a final-week press conference. "At the start of that year I know when we heard the final was going to be in Bilbao there was a perception that by this time of the year the weather would be sunny. But I remember for the final it was lashing rain, so that's another thing that jumps out when I think about it."
It is not the only thing different this time round. In 2018, Leinster's win over Racing 92 was followed by a chaotic late-night flight home, the trip overlapping with the club's 'A' team playing in the British and Irish Cup. Asked whether there had at least been a party back at the Ringrose family home the next day, the centre laughed it off. "No, not in Ireland. No, not that time."
The togetherness from that era has barely shifted in eight years. Leinster have lost four European finals since, and Ringrose was direct about the lesson he has carried into Bilbao for this rematch with Ronan O'Gara's old shadow opponents from La Rochelle, with Bordeaux-Begles now the side trying to dethrone them. "I guess all the big games I've been lucky enough to be involved in with Leinster, I've learned valuable lessons from. Some a little bit more painful than others. All of them were close games, the games fell on really close margins."
His response is to obsess over preparation rather than result. "Those valuable lessons from previous experiences are just focusing on the preparation and working as hard as we can to prepare to then ultimately go all in on the game. We can't control the outcome, we can't control the results unfortunately. So it's just focusing on preparing as best we can and what will be, will be."
The threat from Bordeaux is well understood inside the Leinster camp. Ringrose, who watches a heavy amount of rugby outside his own team, said it is the French side's defensive workrate that has impressed him more than their spectacular try-scoring. "Some of the tries they've scored are exceptional and they rightly so get applauded for. What I've admired on top of that is how hard they work for each other in defence, and how hard they work for each other on attack, which creates the opportunities that we all see."
Bordeaux's coaching staff also includes a familiar Leinster figure in attack coach Noel McNamara, the former age-grade and academy coach who Ringrose just missed by a year coming through the system. "Noel definitely had a really big impact on the players he dealt with here in Leinster. He's an exceptional coach, and away from rugby a really good person. The players play for him on two fronts: for him being a good guy, and then also an exceptional coach."
Ringrose acknowledged the lingering perception that Leinster and Andy Farrell's Ireland are essentially the same team in different shirts, but pushed back gently. "There's just obviously a lot of crossover of players that are lucky enough to play with Leinster and Ireland. So in terms of the identity, maybe it's similar personnel but there's also loads of differences as well. There's things that the coaches demand of us and ask of us in here that differ slightly in Ireland, and vice versa."
The Leinster squad's strength in depth, he said, remained the single most underrated feature of this run. "We're lucky to be part of a group, or an organisation, where everyone's turning up pushing each other, competitive, trying to push the dial to be better for themselves and for the organisation. There's always someone coming up through in training that's pushing the dial, challenging us. The 23 guys that are lucky enough to go out on any given weekend then are representing the whole group."
Kickoff in Bilbao is Saturday.
