Heaslip: Leinster had a 'mountain to climb' in semi-final win

The reigning champions will face Glasgow Warriors - who edged out Munster in their own nerve-shredding semi-final on Friday - at the RDS on May 31

However with an hour played on Saturday night Matt O'Connor's men were heading for a tame exit after being shut out by Ulster, who were three Paddy Jackson penalties to the good.

That was until Jimmy Gopperth collected eight points off the tee and super sub Ian Madigan crashed over the whitewash with eight minutes to go to complete a Leinster turnaround.

And Heaslip believes Leinster were a team transformed in the second half after cutting out the ill-discipline that helped Ulster gain the initial foothold.

"We gave ourselves a mountain to climb I suppose, I think it was 9-0 at one stage and that's never easy, especially against a team like Ulster," he said.

"I think we gave them a lot of easy access points, I felt that our defence was quite solid in the first half and we gave away silly penalties that allowed them to get that lead.

"In the second half I thought we held on to the ball quite well, produced a lot of quick ball and held on to the ball.

"Our front row did an amazing job in the scrum and gave me an unbelievable platform at the back to keep it in and keep driving. We crept out the win in the end.

"Now we're in a final we want to win, we haven't looked at it yet because we were focused on this game."

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