All you need to know about Leinster

Perhaps the best way to sum up Leinster, who start their Vodacom United Rugby Championship tour of South Africa against the Cell C Sharks in Durban on Saturday, is that they are the Crusaders of this competition.

Just like the Crusaders from Christchurch on New Zealand’s south island dominated Super Rugby in the years that the local franchises competed in that competition, so Leinster have dominated the URC in its previous incarnations as first the Celtic League, then PRO12 and PRO14 before morphing into the current format with the addition of the four South African teams.

The Dublin based Irish provincial team came into the URC as reigning champions in the PRO14, and have held the title for four successive years. They won the inaugural Celtic League back in 2002/2002, the PRO12 twice so in all they have won the competition seven times.

In addition to that, Leinster have enjoyed success in conquering Europe. They have won the Champions Cup, which is what all the South African teams are striving determinedly to be part of next year, five times in both its current guise and in its previous identity as the Heineken Cup. Their dominance of PRO14 hasn’t been carried over to Europe in the past few years, but they have always competed and always challenged strongly.

Their determination to set the record straight by winning the Champions Cup, for which they have again qualified for the quarterfinals without really raising a sweat, is why they have come to South Africa for their games against the Sharks and DHL Stormers with what has been described as an understrength squad. They want to be fresh for the next knock-out fixture in just over a fortnight from now.

However, the key to Leinster’s perennial success has been the depth that has been built up at the province. The Irish players want to be based in Dublin, and in the recent Six Nations there were sometimes as many as 13 Leinster players on the field at one time. It is not stretching it to suggest that at full strength, Leinster are not far off being the Irish team.

That might explain why they so easily dealt with the Vodacom Bulls at the Aviva Stadium in their first match against South African opposition at the start of this competition. The Bulls went into that game not knowing what to expect, but ended under no illusions about the task that awaits any team that wants to challenge the champions.

That remains the case even now that Leinster have left their stars such as Jonny Sexton at home, for Leinster pride themselves on their depth and often make the point that they don’t have a first choice and second choice team, but two teams of equal strength. The Sharks will be aware of that when they host Leinster at Hollywoodbets Kings Park and the Stormers when they do the same in Cape Town the following week.

Leinster play their home games primarily at Dublin’s RDS Arena, although larger games are played in the Aviva Stadium when the capacity of the RDS is insufficient.

Before moving to the RDS in 2005, Leinster's traditional home ground was Donnybrook Stadium, in Dublin 4. The province plays primarily in blue and the team crest features a harp within a rugby ball, the harp being taken from the flag of Leinster.

The Leinster history dates back to when their Branch of Irish rugby was inaugurated in 1879, but they were playing as early as 1875, and it was players from Leinster and Ulster that made up the first Ireland team that played against England that same year.