Get out of bed. Put one foot in front of the other. Hop in the car. Drive to training. Lace up your boots. Strap the dodgy parts of your body and get on with the job. Even this week, the Leinster players should know how lucky they are to play rugby for a living.The Lions are waiting in the tall grass. A pack of meaty South Africans will see the chance to catch them at the Aviva Stadium.Leinster need to tap into the same emotions that won them the URC last season.It’s not a fear of failure, not after losing five Champions Cup finals. The fear is long gone but there is hardly confidence coursing through their veins. If apathy is the overriding emotion on Saturday night, the season will be done by 10pm.Ulster are on the beach already after running out of key players down the stretch. Connacht have to land a knock-out blow away to Glasgow, arguably the most motivated side in the competition after Toulon knocked them out of Europe. Munster will relish going to the hardest place to win a game of rugby – Loftus Versfeld.The odds are stacked heavily against Connacht and Munster. Not Leinster. They are still in the driving seat, on track to retain the league title. Leo Cullen’s side need to embrace the most natural feeling in the world after what happened in the Bilbao heat: anger. To a man, they will be disgusted by how Bordeaux Bègles racked up a 21-7 lead inside 25 minutes of the Champions Cup final.It’s proven that no defence can cope – not Toulouse, not Leinster – when the back-to-back European champions have possession in the opposition 22. That’s the problem playing against an enormous French pack with deadly strikers like Louis Bielle-Biarrey. If they don’t get you one way ...Louis Bielle-Biarrey of Bordeaux Bègles scores his team's third try in Bilbao on Saturday. Photograph: Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images Bielle-Biarrey’s first try on Saturday involved a sidestep in mid-air. Watch it back. He did Tom Clarkson with one swerve before bamboozling Jamison Gibson-Park as if he had wings.Bordeaux are a great side. Sure, they need to add a Top 14 title before this is confirmed as fact. Would you bet against them after what we just witnessed?The snap reaction to Leinster being well beaten was a little harsh. “Cullen has to go.” “Jacques Nienaber has to go back to South Africa.” Even Ciarán Frawley’s move to Connacht was suddenly framed as a mistake. Failure after failure after failure was the general narrative from the loudest voices.And look, losing five European finals and last year’s semi-final at home to Northampton should bring a root-and-branch examination of the structure and the coaching ticket. But that also needs to happen after winning, and it cannot be done properly when the emotions are so raw.It’s psychological now for Leinster on the biggest day. This season has been a wild ride for Irish rugby. And we’ve a bit to travel yet. The flash points are a punishing defeat to the Springbok scrum in November before a tough night in Paris to open the Six Nations that had Ireland coach Andy Farrell questioning his team’s “fight” and “intent”.I’d never heard Faz make such a public pronouncement. It had the desired effect. Twickenham will stand the test of time. The Triple Crown was returned to the trophy cabinet. That’s not nothing.When we break it down, there is a similar challenge facing many of the same players who had to react after the Stade de France in February. The scars from Bilbao may never heal but the pain can be assuaged by capturing another URC. Easier said than done.I’ve never reached a Champions Cup final to win one, so I cannot claim to understand what the Leinster boys are feeling this week.Ireland players celebrate after Jamison Gibson-Park's try in the Six Nations game between Ireland and England at Twickenham on February 21st. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho But most of them are good friends, so I know they are hurting. The silence tells you that.The closest comparison, from my career, is how Ireland had to pick up the pieces after losing the World Cup quarter-final to New Zealand. In 2023, more so than 2019, but only because we came up just short of the All Blacks’ try line. The 2011 and 2015 quarter-finals were not much fun either. Three of those four defeats were similar to how Bordeaux had Leinster beat by half-time. At 21-7 last Saturday, the only hope was to get the next score. Even a penalty could have calmed the horses – 21-10, get to the shade and regroup.The fourth try, Bielle-Biarrey’s second, was Murphy’s Law in motion. A blocked Matthieu Jalibert kick fell on the French side, a Damian Penaud fly-hack slipped from Gibson-Park’s hands for Penaud to regather and offload. The fifth try was a picture of a team going for broke when Yoram Moefana picked off Harry Byrne’s pass in midfield.It’s gone now. If the players are still dwelling on it, the Lions will make them pay. Cullen has freshened up his starting XV with Sam Prendergast, Jamie Osborne, Tadhg Furlong and James Lowe. He probably had no choice. It’s been a brutally long season since the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia. One foot in front of the other. Lace the boots. Just get to kick-off and the rugby instincts should override the pain. Again, easier said than done. Maybe Munster will shock the Bulls on the high veld.