Welcome to the redesigned Counter Ruck newsletter. We have taken a lot of reader feedback on board and we really hope you enjoy the new format.---Leinster go into a record-extending ninth Champions Cup final with plenty of scar tissue, it is true, but the flip side of that coin is that as well as the experience of such occasions, they should also have a ravenous hunger.Eight of their matchday 23 from their previous final in Bilbao return to the San Mamés Stadium in an attempt to bridge the eight-year gaps since Leinster’s fourth and last triumph, which should also imbue the squad with a feel-good factor.“Yeah, very good memories, and of this room as well. I think it was Isa [Nacewa] and Johnny [Sexton] were up here the last time, weren’t they?” said Leo Cullen when opening his press conference after the Friday captain’s run in reference to the two players who kicked Leinster’s points that day.“It was a great day for us in 2018, but that’s in the past now. it’s a totally different challenge now and a different group.“Everyone has worked incredibly hard to get to this stage, it’s amazing to be here, a beautiful stadium and obviously steeped in a lot of tradition which we understand.”As is the case in this final, Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose were the midfield partnership that day, when Luke McGrath, Tadhg Furlong and James Ryan also started, while Andrew Porter (then a young tighthead), Jack Conan and Jamison Gibson-Park were on the bench.Leinster's James Ryan Jack Conan and Jordan Larmour celebrate. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho The only other player who featured in that 15-12 win over Racing 92 who is still on Leinster’s books is Jordan Larmour.But although they have all taken part in a winning final, that is their sole victory and long gone are the days when serial winners populated the Leinster dressingroom. Nacewa, Sexton, Cian Healy and Devin Toner were all part of their fourth victorious final, and there have been several other multiple winners from the 2009 breakthrough win over Leicester, the famous 33-22 comeback win over Northampton in 2011, the 42-14 win over Ulster at Twickenham in 2012 and that 2018 success against Racing.Rob Kearney also has four winners’ medals, although having played in three pool games he missed the remainder of the 2010-11 tournament, including the final.Rivers have flown under the bridge in the intervening eight years and, having had an enviable record of four wins from their first four finals Leinster have lost each of four finals since then, by 20-10 against Saracens in Newcastle in 2019, two in a row to La Rochelle by 24-21 and 27-26 in Marseille and the Aviva, and most recently by 31-22 after extra-time against Toulouse in Tottenham two years ago.Five players have featured in all of those losing finals and we should spare a particular thought for James Lowe. Leinster’s all-time joint record try scorer was the one who missed out when Cullen was only permitted to pick two of his three non-EU players and opted to start Scott Fardy with Gibson-Park on the bench.Lowe has since started in all of those four losing finals but a calf injury has sidelined him since Ireland’s Six Nations win over England in Twickenham. Despite make a strong return last week against the Ospreys, when his try brought him level with Shane Horgan’s tally of 69 tries for Leinster, he has missed out on the 23 again.Henshaw and Furlong also started all of the last four losing finals while Ryan and Conan have started three and been a replacement in another. What’s more, another 10 players in this matchday squad have played in three of those four losing finals, namely Hugo Keenan, Ringrose, Gibson-Park, Porter, Dan Sheehan, Ronan Kelleher, Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, McGrath and Ciaran Frawley.Throw in last season’s semi-final loss to Northampton, and more than any baggage all of this will surely equate to a hugely motivated performance, won’t it?