Naas’ Jamie Osborne has said that he is highly motivated as Leinster aim to make amends – to some degree – for their disappointing European exit at the Aviva Stadium last weekend.

Runners-up in the competition for each of the past three seasons, Leo Cullen’s eastern province were hopeful the current term would see them going a step further in the Investec Champions Cup. The Blues were hot favourites to prevail in their second successive last-four meeting with Northampton Saints at Irish Rugby HQ five days ago, but a hat-trick of tries from Tommy Freeman helped to propel their English Premiership opponents into a 27-15 interval lead.

Leinster did reduce their deficit on the resumption – and there was a contentious late incident involving Josh van der Flier that could potentially have led to a penalty try – but Northampton ultimately progressed to the final with three points to spare (37-34).

Without a major trophy since winning a Guinness Pro14 title in March 2021, the province’s only chance of picking up silverware in 2024/25 will now be in the United Rugby Championship.

While a teenage Osborne did feature on six occasions in that 2020/21 Pro14 campaign, he wasn’t involved in their final victory over Munster at the RDS. Leinster have suffered three consecutive URC semi-final losses since he became more of a regular presence at the senior grade of rugby and like a lot of people in the squad, he would dearly love to get his hands on a winners’ medal in the coming weeks.

“I think we all know that our seasons are going to be judged on trophies. We haven’t done that for four years now. I haven’t really been a part of a trophy-winning season at all, so the motivation is very high. We’ve fallen short in the semi-final of the URC for three years in a row now,” Osborne acknowledged at a Leinster media briefing in UCD this week.

“It’s a competition that is really competitive and whatever happens in the league, the regular season, doesn’t really matter when it comes to knockout games. So we need to be better in that this year.”

Given Leinster have yet to win a title since it was rebranded as the URC in the summer of 2021, Osborne admitted securing the title this season would arguably make it more special than any of their eight previous successes in a competition that began life as the Celtic League all the way back in 2001.

A win against Zebre in round 17 of the URC at the Aviva Stadium this Saturday will guarantee that Leinster remain at home for the duration of their time in the knockout phases, but last weekend’s defeat in the Aviva shows that Cullen’s side can’t rely on home comforts.

“We all know how the South African teams have added massively to the league. I think if you look from third place to 15th place, I’m not sure what it is now, but at one stage in the season there was nothing between them really.

“Everyone seemed to be fighting for play-off positions. The league’s really competitive and we’re still trying to guarantee a home run up through the knockout stages. Hopefully we can get that done this week.”

Although it hit him as hard as any of those who took to the field in Ballsbridge, Osborne wasn’t included in the match day 23 for Leinster’s reversal to Northampton. He did score a try as a starter in their facile Champions Cup quarter-final win over Harlequins at Croke Park on April 5, but even though he has seen game time in URC encounters against Ulster and Scarlets since then, he also sat out a European quarter-final victory at the expense of Glasgow Warriors.

Despite having a versatility that allows him to don any jersey from 11 to 15 in a starting line-up, Osborne couldn’t usurp a host of international stars and the in-form Tommy O’Brien for these do-or-die Champions Cup games.

While he did find this frustrating, the former Naas CBS student is planning to channel this emotion in the best possible way.

“Definitely frustrating. I suppose I played Harlequins and felt I played well in that game. It’s such a competitive team and there’s probably a lot of people that are disappointed each week. I will just try and turn that frustration into performances from now on.”

Even though he also had a great affection for Gaelic football during his youth, Osborne has been a Leinster fan from a very young age. When he was seven years old, he attended the 2009 Heineken Cup final between his future employers and Leicester Tigers at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh alongside his father Joe and his young brother Andrew.

A Grand Slam winner with the Ireland U20s in 2023, Andrew is currently in his second year in the Leinster Academy, but has enjoyed a number of run outs for the province’s senior squad thus far this season. After making just two appearances in the 2023/24 campaign – including a try-scoring debut against Saturday’s opponents Zebre – he has gone on to play 10 games in the present term and registered an impressive haul of five tries.

The younger Osborne has mostly seen action in the United Rugby Championship, but he did play the final 28 minutes of a Champions Cup pool stage clash with Clermont Auvergne at the Aviva on December 14 of last year.

“I think he’d be delighted with how the season has gone for him. He only played maybe a couple of games last year, so this is really his first full season. He should be delighted with how he’s going. Hopefully we’ll get to play with each other more in the future,” Jamie said of his brother.

“He’s still young and with that level of experience, there’s a lot of learning. There’s going to be good days, bad days. Hopefully he’s able to kick on.”