James Lowe can't believe Bilbao blowout his only time to celebrate a Leinster Champions Cup triumph

James Lowe partied in Bilbao believing that his own Champions Cup success would quickly follow.

Lowe was there in the Basque Country to cheer his team-mates on to Leinster's fifth triumph in the competition.

The eligibility rules at the time meant that the Blues could only play two of their non-European players

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With Jamison Gibson-Park providing scrum-half cover on the bench, it came down to a choice between Lowe and Scott Fardy.

The Aussie got the nod and Lowe made the most of the trip.

"Intoxicated, yeah," he laughed. “We were in a bakery at nine o’clock in the morning and we weren’t having croissants!

"That was a cracker of a day in Bilbao. The boys performed so well. There are photos of the day.

"Who was it, Fards, Jack and James Ryan? There is a famous one of them going for the charge-down on the drop goal attempt right at the end.

"That sticks in my memory like there’s no tomorrow. Hopefully one day there will be memories of an effort by us in a final that leads to us winning it."

Leinster's James Lowe and Jonathan Sexton celebrate after the game in Bilbao
(Image: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan)

Lowe was sure that it would have happened by now. “I probably took it for granted, I’m not going to lie," said the 31-year-old.

"I didn’t play in that Bilbao game but the training week, the prep leading up to it, I remember that so well and the boys performed so well on the day and were able to get over the line."

Six years on, victory for Leinster against Northampton Saints at Croke Park would give him a fourth crack at winning a first final, having played in the deciders that the province lost to Saracens (2019) and then La Rochelle in the last two years.

“Look, we have been trying ever since then and we have put ourselves in a very good position now to give ourselves another crack and that’s what we will do," the winger said.

"We will keep knocking on the door and one day it will open.

"Yeah, it's a sick obsession.

"It's heartbreaking. Every single year you try so hard and on the day it's been so cruel to us for so many years. But we'll keep going after it, and please God (it will happen)."

Lowe says Leinster are "ready to rumble" and must do themselves justice in front of a sold-out crowd this evening.

The Blues are taking a shot at making their eighth Champions Cup final - with the Premiership leaders Northampton Saints in their way.

Caelan Doris will lead the side out in front of the 82,300 attendance as co-captains Garry Ringrose and James Ryan are absent, while first-choice full-back Hugo Keenan is also missing.

Head coach Leo Cullen has made two changes from the side that beat La Rochelle in the last round.

James Lowe in possession of a Gaelic Football as Ross Molony closes in during Leinster's Captain's Run at Croke Park
(Image: ©INPHO/James Crombie)

Winger Lowe said: "Coming here, it’s magnificent, when you stand in the middle of that pitch and look around, the sheer scale and size of it can be quite overwhelming.

"Look, we’ve been in some pretty big arenas away from here.

"It’s just that this one is in our back yard and we get the opportunity to put in a performance - and hopefully they invite us back if we do a good job.

"We've had an extra week's prep and we're ready to rumble.

"It is an enormous occasion. It's the first time I've been on this road, first time I've been on the pitch and it's for the Captain's Run.

"It's an amazing stadium, something that little boys and girls dream about, being able to play here.

"Everyone understands the history of what Croke Park represents to the Irish people so look, I'm well aware of what happened here.

"The fact that we get to play a game of rugby, a game of club rugby and being given the opportunity to fill it out is amazing. Let's hope we can do it justice."

Leinster produced a dominant display that ended the run of knockout losses suffered by the Blues at the hands of Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle.

The key for the Blues is to take confidence from that result but put their sole focus on last four opponents Northampton Saints.

"Look, no one's going to care if we lose to Northampton that we beat La Rochelle in the quarter-final," Lowe said.

Leinster’s James Lowe on his way to scoring a try at the Aviva Stadium despite the attentions of Jack Nowell of La Rochelle
(Image: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan)

"It's nice. We had them in the pool stages, the boys went over there in horrible weather and did an absolute job.

"It came back to Dublin, managed to put in a performance we were so happy with but we can't rest there.

"It's all about this game and being able to back up performances. It's going to be tight at times, it's going to be physical, fast.

"Every year we try put ourselves in the best possible way, shape and form that we can.

"It's funny, it's such a fickle game because we're talking how many points in those last two finals?

"If something else had happened, if a call had gone a different way, if we'd been given a pen at a different time or the interpretation of a ref (was different) we wouldn't be talking about it, you know?

"It's the same throughout all the tight matches. We can sit here and argue about every point.

"But we are obsessed and it's all hands on deck, and we're going to do our best to put our best foot forward and hopefully come away with a result.

"We're going to have to put our head in a dark place but it's credit to Northampton and how they attack and play the game.

"They said they do want to play rugby when they come here. It's teed up for a good spectacle."

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