LEINSTER BACK ROW Josh van der Flier wants his side to kill off any chance of giving Connacht a foothold in the tie tomorrow', when the sides meet in the second leg tomorrow's Champions Cup second leg at the Aviva Stadium.
Connacht players and staff have stated all week that confidence is high and that Andy Friend's side can get a result.
van der Flier also agrees that the five-point first leg deficit will give Connacht a huge motivation to win the tie.
He's now sent a rallying call to his teammates to destroy that belief quickly before that confidence grow stronger as the game wears on.
"It's the same with any team we play - I'm sure they have full belief within their group," said van der Flier,
"If you're ever in a situation where you're the underdog, the longer you stay with a team the more you believe we can actually do this.
"Playing anyone at home you want to get that good start, take away their belief, don’t give them a foothold in the game. That will certainly be a focus for us.
"We talked a bit about their mindset and how they might be looking to approach the game.
DUBLIN, IRELAND - DECEMBER 11: Josh van der Flier of Leinster . (Photo by Oisin Keniry/Getty Images)"Individually and as a team we look to channel that focus into our performance and it takes away that mental side of what they're thinking, whether they believe they are underdogs or whether they should win or not win.
Finlay Bealham, the Connacht and Ireland prop, knows that the western province 'need to be another level better' if they are to overcome the four-time European Cup winners on their own patch.
"We need to be another level better, and that's in all areas of our game, defensively, set piece and in attack we have to bring it to another level, he said,
"We have to meet fire with fire.
“I've been involved in a few teams that have beaten Leinster over the years. Every time we have beaten them, we have been really well prepared and everyone is across their details early in the week so we can deliver that physicality on Friday.
“We are going to have to raise our game to a whole new level. We have to make it happen for ourselves.”
The game starts at 5.30 tomorrow and will be LIVE on BT Sport 1
See More: Connacht, European Champions Cup, Leinster, Rugby
