They made a bit of a meal of it, but Leinster will march on Bilbao on 22 May for their ninth Champions Cup final. Their 17th semi-final was clinched by four tries to three over Toulon, another multiple winner of this tournament, but it was not a classic.
Which is not to say it was boring. Leinster are not convincing this season and a telltale sign of a team with a confidence issue is the offering up of hope to a seemingly defeated team. The hosts, enjoying a knockout tie at the Aviva for the umpteenth time, went 18 points clear when Caelan Doris scored their fourth with a little more than 10 minutes to play. Then all hell broke loose.
Toulon suddenly found themselves. Baptiste Serin darted over from an attacking lineout and carry a couple of minutes later, before Gael Drean plucked the ball from the air ahead of Sam Prendergast, playing out of position on the wing, and stepped his way to the line. Leinster led by four points with four minutes still to play.
Toulon came again, but Drean forced his pass out of the tackle to Setariki Tuicuvu, the ball went to ground and Toulon’s race was run. They are hardly ripping it up in the Top 14, lying in eighth place, but they have been impressive in Europe. On Saturday, though, they were surprisingly whistled out of the contest at scrum time, Kyle Sinckler displeasing the referee, Luke Pearce, time and again, and they failed to take advantage of Leinster’s reduction to 13 for 10 minutes either side of half-time. Indeed, they managed to concede a try in that time.
Leinster’s lukewarm form was manifest when they lost in Treviso last week with a lot of these same players, but it remains a safe-enough expectation they will, at the very least, come at you hard and often, phase after phase. That they did from the start, scoring the first of their two first-half tries in the 13th minute.
It was classic Leinster. A smart turnover and searching punt earned an attacking lineout. Josh van der Flier found some space on the blindside and Jack Conan picked an unstoppable line off Jamison Gibson-Park. Gibson-Park thought he had scored at the end of the first quarter, but the slightest of fumbles spotted by the television match official denied him.
France have the best goal-kicking full-back in the world in Thomas Ramos – and they have probably got the second-best in Melvyn Jaminet. He did miss his first shot at goal, but it was inside his own half so we will let him off that one. He succeeded with two more attempts, the second from just inside Leinster’s half, to pull the visitors back to within a point by the 25th minute.
Leinster responded with another classic. Tuicuvu chose not to call a mark off a Harry Byrne cross-kick – or forgot – and from the lineout he conceded in so doing, another period of Leinster pressure was initiated, which culminated in a try for Van der Flier, looping round Caelan Doris from close range.
Toulon managed to wrest back some initiative as half-time approached. Andrew Porter, otherwise magnificent, caught Charles Ollivon high and received a yellow card and Toulon found some rhythm in the next attack. Jaminet and Jérémy Sinzelle handled sweetly to put Tuicuvu away on the left. Worse, Byrne was shown yellow for an infringement in the buildup.
Remarkably, it was 13-man Leinster who scored next. Ollivon turned over the ball early in the second half and away went Leinster. Garry Ringrose was eventually put over. This time it was Teddy Baubigny who caught someone on the chin and picked up a yellow.
Quick Guide
Leinster 29-25 Toulon teams and scorers
Show
Leinster Keenan; T O’Brien (Prendergast 69), Ringrose, Henshaw (J Osborne 15), Ioane; H Byrne, Gibson-Park; Porter (Cahir 75), Sheehan (Kelleher 75), Clarkson (Slimani 70), J McCarthy, Ryan, Conan (Soroka , Van der Flier (Penny 47), Doris (capt). Yellow card Porter 36, Byrne 37. Tries Conan, Van der Flier, Ringrose, Doris Cons Byrne 3 Pen Byrne.
Toulon Jaminet; Drean, Brex, Sinzelle, Tuicuvu; Albornoz, White (Serin 54); Gros (Brennan 62), Baubigny (Lucchesi 67), Sinckler (Gigashvili 54), Mezou (Halagahu 62), Ribbans (capt), Kpoku (Abadie 54), Ollivon, Shioshvili (Mercer 54)
Yellow card Baubigny 44. Tries Tuicuvu, Serin, Tuicuvu Cons Jaminet 2 Pens Jaminet 2.Â
Referee Luke Pearce (England) Att 37,555
Byrne moved Leinster 11 points clear with a penalty five minutes later, when Toulon’s scrum was penalised for the fifth time. He missed another, for the second time in the match, on the hour, but Doris’s try a few minutes later seemed to have rendered that academic. That Leinster struggled home from there does not speak of burgeoning confidence for that trip to Bilbao.