Speaking ahead of Saturday’s Heineken Cup final, Leinster Coach MICHAEL CHEIKA said that the team are focused and relaxed ahead of the trip to Edinburgh…

“We’ve had a pretty relaxed atmosphere, which is the best word for it. Things went up a notch today where we got into a bit of contact work and the last bits of physicality before we get into the game. Everyone came through that nicely, so I’m happy enough.

“Rocky (Elsom) is back. He did contact work today and everyone’s good. We’ve got a lot of options, and one thing I do know is that whatever way we start we will have the ability to change the game from the bench if we have to because whoever starts from the bench will be able to bring something, with the bench we have. They’ll have a pretty strong bench as well, as they have done over the last few weeks. So both teams will have the ability to change the course of the game.

“We have done nothing different (in the preparation). Obviously it’s slightly different logistically because a lot of the guys didn’t play last weekend, so we’ve had a different kind of build up. It has been a long season so it’s important to try to keep the guys as fresh as possible.

“We probably had a bit more lead time in preparing for the opposition, but not getting too buried in it either in thinking about our own game, so we’ve been pretty relaxed about it.

“We believe in ourselves. The only guarantee that you can get in this game is that we try to go out and give everything that we’ve got in the final. We know that it’s our first time here and that Leicester are very experienced so we understand where we are. We’ve got to prepare our mental state so that we give them a real run for their money.

“I’d be a big believer that hard games (Leicester’s Premiership final last weekend) are good for you, but our players have been pretty concentrated on the week ahead. We gave them time last week to have a look at Leicester, who aren’t a team we play that regularly.

“I thought their game last weekend was classic Leicester. They know how to win, don’t they? If you saw the first 20 minutes after half-time they decided that they were going to hold on to the ball. They made a 4:1 (ratio) more tackle count on London Irish and once they saw that things weren’t going right for them in the first half they just showed what kind of a championship class side they are.

“We have to understand where we are and not worry too much about where Leicester are. I don’t know if their record in this competition will intimidate our players, but it’s a big confidence booster for their own players. We’ve got our own team culture that we believe in and we’re obviously pretty true to that. It’s still in the development stage, but I would say that our self-belief is very strong within the team and what we’ve got to try to do is relax and bring it on the day because that’s what cup finals are all about.

“Our mission is to go on and win the game, but we’re not getting to get anxious by that. We’ve got to stay calm and understand how we’re going to achieve that mission against what is a formidable enemy. The more you look at them in the scrum, in the lineout, in their power play and in their counter attack where Geordan Murphy is a very explosive player, you’re talking about a formidable opponent. We want to enjoy the build-up, and as the word say ‘build-up” towards kick off time.”