LEINSTER JOHNNY HAS GOT HIS GOOD FEELING BACK

JOHNNY SEXTON says the mood at Leinster is similar to how it was when they conquered Europe three times in four years. The 31-year old-was unimpressed with the set-up when he returned in 2015 after two years with racing Metro but has been thrilled with how the province bounced back to reach this year’s Champions Cup semi-final. They went down 27-22 to Clermont on sunday in Lyon but it’s not all doom and gloom just one year after Leinster lost five of their six Pool games for the first time. “Last year was a disappointment in a lot of ways but this year has been everything I wanted Leinster to be when I came back,” he said. “Getting to a European semi-final is a great thing to do and I couldn’t be happier in training every day. “obviously I maybe did it the wrong way last year in terms of saying what I thought about how things had gone. I just did it because I was trying to be honest but I could have done it in a better way. But the place has come a long way in a year.” sunday was the Blues’ first defeat in 2017 but sexton – at the launch of the Bank of Ireland Leinster rugby summer Camps yesterday – said the narrow defeat helps him understand how lucky he was in his early years. he added: “It feels like we’re back to the days when we were winning European Cups for fun. “Five years later you’re still waiting to get into another final. It just shows what a special competition it is to win and how special that team was as well to win three in four.”