Leinster Punish Toulouse Indiscipline To Reach Dublin Decider

Leinster scored 28 points during two sin-bin periods to beat Toulouse 41-22 at the Aviva Stadium where they will be hotly-tipped to lift the Heineken Champions Cup on home soil next month.

Three tries in 10 frenetic minutes – two of them from Jack Conan – had Leinster well on course for the May 20 Dublin decider. It was 27-14 at half-time with Toulouse touching down through Pita Ahki and Emmanuel Meafou.

The five-time champions, who were hoping to exorcise the demons of 2019 and 2022 semi-final defeats in the Irish capital, were rocked by that mid-half flurry from Conan (2) and Dan Sheehan.

But despite a Thomas Ramos penalty and a late Jack Willis effort, Toulouse were undone by Rodrigue Neti’s sin-binning.

Josh van der Flier, on the occasion of his 50th Champions Cup appearance, and replacement Jason Jenkins both crossed to move the province within reach of a fifth European title.

Charlie Ngatai’s daring break from deep led to Ross Byrne’s fourth-minute penalty goal, but Toulouse hit back with the game’s first try.

A brilliant 50:22 kick from Ramos gave them field position before centre Ahki exploited a three-on-two overlap to score in the left corner.

After Ramos’ expertly-struck conversion was cancelled out by a second Byrne penalty, Toulouse suffered a double blow when centre Pierre-Louis Barassi hobbled off and Ramos saw yellow for a deliberate knock-on.

Conan duly barged over from a short Andrew Porter pass, and the number 8 then dummied past Juan Cruz Mallia to complete his quick-fire brace. Byrne added both conversions for a 20-7 lead.

Jimmy O’Brien was a whisker away from a third try, just losing control of the ball in a tackle from Mallia.

Nonetheless, a blunder at the back of a Toulouse maul – replacement Paul Graou’s pass hit Willis flush in the face – allowed Sheehan to explode over from 25 metres out. Byrne swept over the extras.

Despite losing Antoine Dupont’s influence at half-back in a reshuffled back-line, the visitors rallied. Scrum half Graou sent monster lock Meafou powering over for Ramos to convert.

At the start of a cagier second half, influential centre Ngatai’s ball-dislodging tackle on Péato Mauvaka helped to repel Toulouse’s early surge.

Although Ramos made it a 10-point game, Toulouse’s momentum was sucked away by replacement prop Neti’s head-led contact with van der Flier at a ruck. It resulted in a yellow card.

A power-packed lineout drive saw van der Flier score on the hour mark. Byrne curled over the conversion for a double-scores advantage – 34-17.

Their strong bench helped last season’s runners-up to lift the pace once more, Luke McGrath giving South African Jenkins a straightforward finish in the 63rd minute.

Impressive out-half Byrne’s conversion brought his tally to 16 points, before English flanker Willis gained some late consolation from an 82nd-minute maul.

Leinster now await the winners of Sunday’s semi-final between defending champions La Rochelle and Exeter Chiefs. Whoever wins through, head coach Leo Cullen knows his charges will have to to be at their best in their fourth Champions Cup final in six years.

“It’s great to be in a final now, and hopefully it’s going to be a special day. There will be a fair old demand for tickets, but this what we wanted all season. Everyone has worked their butts off to get to this point,” said Cullen.

“It’s just trying to keep a lid on it now. There was a lot of hype after the semi-final against Toulouse last year and we didn’t deliver our best game in the final. That’s what we have to try focus on.”

With Leinster’s back-line missing the injured trio of Jonathan Sexton, Robbie Henshaw and James Lowe, it was scrum half Jamison Gibson-Park who stepped up as the Heineken star-of-the-match. Captain James Ryan and Sheehan also stood out.

“There was plenty of good stuff in the game,” added the Leinster boss, who is also plotting a way through the upcoming BKT United Rugby Championship play-offs.

“When Ramos goes to the bin we get a couple of tries during that period, and I thought the guys were pretty clinical at important stages.

“The tries come in different ways. It’s pleasing because there’s a bit of variety in our game, and that’s a thing we’re trying to develop all the time.

“We’re delighted to be through, but it’s a semi-final, and that’s about eking through by even a point, and delivering a better performance in the final.”