Saracens flanker Mike Rhodes has admitted that it will not be easy to win the breakdown battle against defending champions Leinster Rugby in the Heineken Champions Cup final on Saturday. The 31-year-old scored the opening try in Saracens’ 32-16 Heineken Champions Cup semi-final win over Munster Rugby, securing the English club’s spot in the showpiece final for the third time in the last four seasons. But while Rhodes felt the two-time winners competed well at the breakdown against Munster, he knows they will face a totally different proposition at Newcastle’s St. James’ Park. “They are very different teams in some aspects,” said the South African-born forward. “They [Leinster] are very well organised and disciplined, with a fantastic set-piece. “They do the basics really well and are a well-drilled side, like they have been for the last few years. [jwplayer dYzs8hgG] “We handled the breakdown well in the semi-final against Munster and we managed to nullify them. We’d like to think we can implement a similar plan in the final, but it won’t be easy. We saw against Toulouse how they can disrupt at the breakdown.” Rhodes insisted that last season’s 30-19 quarter-final defeat by Leinster will not offer any added motivation for Saracens. “I was in St. Albans due to injury for the quarter-final last year,” Rhodes added. “On the day, we were beaten by the better side, but they are not too dissimilar to ourselves. “It was a different situation then, as we just made it through the pool stages and had to play the No.1 seed. For us, there has been no talk of payback or us owing them one.”

You can watch the Heineken Champions Cup final between Leinster Rugby and Saracens with live free-to-air coverage from Channel 4 and Virgin Media. The game is also being televised live on BT Sport, beIN SPORTS and FR2.