The Irish province won all nine matches during the 2017-18 campaign, including a quarter-final win over defending champions Saracens and a semi-final success over Scarlets in Dublin.

And they would add a fourth star in Bilbao as they beat Racing 92 15-12 in a tense final at the San Mames Stadium, something Kearney admitted was out of the ordinary for both sides, but a thrill nonetheless.

“It was different but it was a real thrill as well,” said the 34-year-old. “We weren’t going to a stadium in France where you’d expect the French to get a lot of support so we understood that it was a lot different for them (Racing 92) as well.

“That season we were playing some incredible rugby and were very difficult to beat so we took a lot of confidence from that.

“In the quarter-final and semi-final, we probably played some of the best rugby we ever have done in the last number of years so we went to Bilbao with a lot of confidence.

“We knew that they were a very strong team and they played a really good game that day. The game plan was excellent and we couldn’t play the same kind of rugby we had done in the quarter and semi-finals.

“Conditions were very poor and they were dominant at the set-piece but we had become a very complete team who could win any way on the big day and I think we proved it.”

Kearney will be on next week's Heineken Champions Cup Rewind Special alongside Heineken ambassador Keith Wood and you can watch it all on ChampionsCupRugby.com.

Leinster Rugby full-back Rob Kearney reflected on his Heineken Champions Cup successes on the Champions Rugby Show last month, describing the class of 2018 as “incredible”.