GARRY RINGROSE remembers his first Champions Cup win. Ireland had just claimed a Grand Slam with ‘Ringer’ a key cog at centre, Leinster were the kings of Europe and he was just 23. But if there was ever a risk that he would think that rugby was easy, Leinster club captain Isa Nacewa was soon in his ear. Ringrose said: “After we’d won in Bilbao, we were playing Munster in the PRO12 semi-final the following week and preparing for that. “So we’d gone through the celebrations in Europe and I was asking Nacewa . . . because in my head I’m thinking of all the greats that won in Europe and had a chance of a double.” Leinster had twice before failed to do the double and Nacewa — who was in both squads — set him straight. Ringrose continued: “I was asking, ‘How come they didn’t do the double? And, he said, ‘Because it’s unbelievably hard to do’. Just give it absolutely everything. Your prep, give it absolutely everything on the day. And then I suppose the result is, well it will be what it’ll be if you can do those two things.” And this is why he will not look back on his first Champions Cup win — his only one to date — as a missed opportunity. Ringrose added: “I just wouldn’t ever look back at my last ten years in a negative light considering how lucky I’ve been to be in the teams and enjoy any success. “I wouldn’t take for granted even one knowing how hard it is to get there and win. I wouldn’t take one Champions Cup for granted. “You get a little taste for that success and that’s what drives you, motivates you to keep going.” Since that 2018 victory, Leinster have lost four finals, one semi-final and a quarter-final. They also reached the semis in 2017, with Ringrose a breakout star. The squad is now preparing for next week’s last-four showdown with Northampton Saints. If successful, they will be through to their fourth final in a row and a shot at a fifth cup win — their first since 2018. Ringrose is now 30, but the landmark birthday did not mean a period of reflection on his career. The Dubliner explained: “I’ve been lucky to enjoy some unbelievably successful days. But when you fall short, it kind of increases your appetite to go out there and give it another rattle. “There is a semi to attack and that’s where my head is at. But if you’re asking me what I remember from Bilbao, it was the lap around the pitch afterwards and certainly the changing room afterwards.” GREAT EXPECTATIONS Ringrose is now focused fully on Saturday where the majority in attendance will expect to be entertained. Expectations are high after Leinster scored 114 to zero in their last two ties against Harlequins and Glasgow. The mammoth points haul is impressive. But so to has been the defending as no team in the Champions Cup had ever kept a clean sheet in 30 years of knockout games. But Ringrose is not getting carried away. He added: “I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for a Glasgow or Harlequins review. Because it would have been too easy to think we were good, because they definitely did not perform to the levels that they are capable of. “We challenge ourselves not to be delusional in that perspective.”