As they claimed their 10th major trophy in 11 years, their 12th in all, Leinster once again demonstrated on Saturday what makes them their organisation a shining example of how teams in the Celtic nations can maximise their competitiveness.
A glimmer of exoticism may be permissible, in the hirsute shapes of the flowing-locked Kiwi James Lowe and bearded Aussie Scott Fardy right now, but they are the only players who are not homegrown products of Irish rugby and, for the most part, the Leinster academy, in their current squad.
That contrasts starkly with the squad they faced on Saturday since, for all that the vast majority of players in the Glasgow Warriors squad which contested the Pro14 Grand Final are now contending for places in Scotland’s World Cup squad, only around half of them were products of the Scottish development process.
The impression given is of Leinster having spent most of what funding they have garnered in the professional era in the development of effective academy programmes which are generating a production line of talent while Murrayfield executives and coaches trawl the world trying to identify third generation Scottish-qualified talent.
In many ways it looks to be a definition of the difference between the benefit of long-term planning, as opposed to seeking short-term fixes.
Munster and Ulster look to have moved increasingly towards the Leinster, while Connacht’s resources have long meant they have had little other choice.
All four Irish provinces will duly be competing in the Champions Cup next season, while Scotland reverts to what has been the standard since its teams were forced to fight for the right to participate, with Glasgow the sole representative next season, a presence now matched by that of Italy.
Admittedly, the same applies to Wales, but for all that their regions have suffered from having to spread talent too thinly, they have also seen the benefit at international level of an increasing reliance on homegrown talent, even if that has been more a case of being forced into it since the days of largesse when the Ospreys were being described as rugby’s ‘Galacticos’.
Set against Dave Rennie’s observations on Saturday that Glasgow have no choice but to let Stuart Hogg when another club is prepared to double his wages, the analysis of the evolving European rugby scene offer by his Leinster counterpart Leo Cullen, explained why the Dublin way is the only long-term option for the Celtic nations.
"There's lots of challenges out there. If you go back to 10 years ago, when Cheiks (former head coach and now Australia boss Michael Cheika) was there and we were battling so hard to get to that point, then Joe (Schmidt, Cheika’s successor who is now Ireland coach) comes in and there's a real up-lift during that period, but then the game in Europe started to change quite drastically, if you think Saracens, Toulon and the models of those teams,” he noted.
"Look at Stade Francais as an example, their owner says he's willing to invest €100m of his own money in five years. In terms of competition in the market-place and the types of players you can bring in, it has a big knock on consequences for everyone. How that all goes is anyone's guess.
"You're watching the leagues, you see the semi-finals and the way it played out in the Top 14... there's the competition in Europe and there's the competition in the Pro14 and everyone is getting stronger.
"What Glasgow have done, they're just getting stronger and stronger. Edinburgh had a big year this year. Missing out in Europe was a big thing for them but that almost makes them more dangerous in the league because of, not so much the distraction, but the competition of Europe and how that affects your priorities. There's so many different sub-plots all the time.
"For us, we can't really control any of those things. We can only control what we're trying to do.”
Cullen believes that only reinforces the need to remain committed to the processes that have brought so much success.
"We're investing heavily in the young guys, really, you see that with the competition. You still need experience, but the work that goes in to making sure you identify talent and you put resources into that talent so they can be good, there's also challenges with that as well,” he said.
"We'd a lot of guys who got experience this year, got exposure. We're losing some experience with Seány (O’Brien) moving on and a couple of others as well.
"We've young guys coming in, we've got this rotation or whatever way you want to call it.
Everyone's a year older in the cycle, young guys come into the Academy and it's making sure those guys get some quality coaching.”
Cullen has also been effusive in recent days in thanking the Leinster support for the scale of backing they have received on two big away days to Newcastle for the Champions Cup final, then on Saturday at Celtic Park and he suggested that their reliance on homegrown talent has been crucial in creating that connection between players and supporters.
"It's just feeding into the culture part of it, the support and the players what it represents for them to play on the weekend, that they understand what their piece in the bigger jigsaw is,” he said.
"You've guys that are highly motivated playing for the team, if you've guys going through the motions it's not going to be a nice team to support. It's important we're always guarding against that, so the competition piece is important."
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