Rieko Ioane: After Johnny Sexton spat, All Black star hopes to lift Leinster to European glory

Ioane, of course, will hope to emulate the impact of his long-time All Black centre partner Jordie Barrett, who shone during his spell at Leinster last season.

Barrett scored seven tries in 15 Leinster appearances and controversially started the Champions Cup semi-final loss to Northampton on the bench.

When asked about Ioane potentially matching Barrett, Leinster hooker Dan Sheehan said: “They’re different people, different players.

“Jordie was great at being able to almost coach lads and see things from a different perspective because we’ve a lot of people who have grown up in the same system for the guts of 10 years and haven’t seen an outside view on things.

“That’s what RG [Snyman, South Africa international] and Rieko can bring to us, different ideas from different parts of the world and obviously at a top-class level.”

Before their last-four exit to the Saints, Leinster lost three successive finals to French opposition (La Rochelle twice and Toulouse).

Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan played in all three and says Leinster are hoping to tap into Ioane’s big-game experience in Europe this time around.

“He’s a serious competitor. The things he’s been able to achieve, the amount of experience he has, that competitive edge he has, if we can tap into that it would be brilliant,” he added.

“You’ve seen over the years, every jersey he’s pulled on, he’s represented well and been a proper competitor. We’re really excited to have him in the environment and looking forward to see what he can add.”