Johnny Sexton wants Leinster to seek inspiration from past title wins as they head into Champions Cup final

Leinster skipper Johnny Sexton has urged his side to draw inspiration from past glories as they face La Rochelle in the final of the Heineken Champions Cup at Stade Velodrome on 28th May.

The Irish province managed to beat last season's champions Toulouse 40-17 in the semi-final last weekend riding on a double from James Lowe while Josh van der Flier and Hugo Keenan also touchdown apiece.

Sexton also played a key role in setting up three tries while contributing 15 points leading them to the final for the sixth time.

The Irish star is set to turn 37 in less than two months but admitted that he is relishing playing for both Leinster and Ireland.

“Incredibly so," he told BT Sport.

“Both environments I’m lucky to be part of in Leinster and Ireland. That’s why I’m still playing because I absolutely love training every day with these guys and the management in both camps.

“I’m still loving it and hopefully proving my worth.”

Having been into the final five times previously, Leinster's only defeat came against Saracens in the 2018/19 season when Sean Maitland and Billy Vunipola ran in tries to defeat the Ireland province 20-10.

“The last time we were in the final, against Saracens, we got outplayed. It was a special day in Newcastle for the wrong reasons," he added.

“Our crowd turned up, but we just didn’t on the day. We’ve got to learn from that lesson and hopefully, we can go one step further this year.

“I think it’s the experiences, both positive and negative. We have the Saracens final to look back on, but we have also been a champion team before and we can look back on that as largely the same group.

“There hasn’t been a lot of change over the years, so we are going to draw on all those experiences and try and go one step further.”

A win in the final will see Leinster winning their fifth Champions Cup title levelling Toulouse, who currently hold the record for most triumphs in the competition.