La Rochelle lost 22-17 to Stade Toulousain in the 2021 final and face a formidable test against four-time champions Leinster Rugby as they seek to go one better in Marseille tonight.

That defeat was followed by an 18-8 reverse to Toulouse in France’s TOP 14 final.

O'Gara said: “I think you have to be very mentally strong to come back to this stage after what happened last year.

“Even though I am a huge fan in believing that you learn so much from getting to finals, I don’t subscribe to the fact that everything is a failure if you don’t get over the line.

“Yes, we didn’t get over the line in Europe or the TOP 14, but I think we have learnt from that and we have an opportunity to test ourselves in a really challenging environment against a classy team this weekend.

“I think we’ve probably timed our run nicely.”

La Rochelle have been gathering momentum in this season’s Heineken Champions Cup, culminating in their 20-13 semi-final victory over Toulouse.

O'Gara said: “If you look at what happened after losing two finals last year, we lost the first four or five games.

“Yes, the fixtures were dreadfully difficult, but we have shown resilience. We have come back.”

“We made a plan. The boys dug in for each other, which was epitomised by the performance [in the TOP 14 against Stade Français Paris] at the weekend.

“We just needed that result. It wasn’t about a performance, but we got a performance and a result.

“Good teams find a way to win and at the minute we are doing that.”

La Rochelle defeated Leinster 32-23 in last season’s semi-final, but former Munster Rugby and Ireland fly half O’Gara felt this would have little bearing on Saturday’s final.

He said: “So much rugby has happened since then. Twelve months in sport is an extremely long time.

“We are aware that they have got better. I think that we most definitely have got better.

“I think we are concentrating on elements in our game that we need to be better at to give ourselves a fighting chance at the weekend.”

O’Gara has been particularly impressed by Leinster’s phase play.

“They look very confident,“ he said. ”They look very settled and they trust each other. That's very important.”

“I admire the way Leinster play the game. I think they play it in a fast but yet highly creative way.

“You can see that they are extremely well coached, but they also have masses of ambition.

“They have a very good group of players, but you can also see that the coaches are getting the best out of the players.

“I think they are challenging their players in all aspects of the game and trying to make them complete players.

“They look very, very good, but I can’t really think about that at the minute. It’s just that we have admiration for how they are going.”

The game in Marseille kicks off at 16:45 (UK & Irish time) and will be available to watch on BT Sport, Channel 4, Virgin Media, beIN SPORTS, France 2 and Sky Italia.

Head coach Ronan O’Gara says Stade Rochelais are a mentally stronger side than a year ago as they prepare for a second successive Heineken Champions Cup final.