Heineken Cup: XV of the Semi-Finals

Now that the dust has settled over in France and Spain, Planet Rugby thought it was only right to praise the Heineken Cup's star men.

Now that the dust has settled over in France and Northern Spain, Planet Rugby thought it was only right to hail the Heineken Cup's star players.

It was quite a semi-final schedule particularly following the recent Six Nations as Ireland and les Bleus went toe-to-toe in two separate spectacles.

However, the winning trend of 2010 continued for France as their European mastery set up a Biarritz versus Toulouse big finale in Paris on May 22.

So who were the men that grabbed our attention at PR Headquarters? See for yourself in our XV of the Heineken Cup semi-finals…feel free to mail in your own selections! Everyone's opinion counts…

15 Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse) – His shimmy and go around Brian O'Driscoll on 42 minutes impressed but it was quite simply another solid performance from France and Toulouse's man at the back that sees him take our fifteen jersey.

14 Vincent Clerc (Toulouse) – A try-saving tackle when Eoin Reddan looked to be a certainty to score in the first-half cannot be downplayed. Clerc also offered plenty in attack and was a vital cog in David Skrela's slippery score under the posts.

13 Jean de Villiers (Munster) – Yes he plays 12 but it was very tough to leave out this Springbok. De Villiers was strong at the breakdown to steal possesion that led to Keith Earls' first-half try and was good enough in all-round play to beat Florian Fritz to this spot.

12 Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse) – It was another measured performance from the glue that holds this Toulouse midfield together. He was a constant ball-carrying option for Skrela and capped it all off by running the perfect angle to sneak over in the right corner.

11 Isa Nacewa (Leinster) – Mr Versatile was unfortunate not to be on the winning side on Saturday as his scoring pass out to Jamie Heaslip was one to savour. The former Blues man just about edged out half-time replacement Maxime Medard for this one.

10 David Skrela (Toulouse) – Biarritz's midweek call to play Karmichael Hunt at number ten raised a few eyebrows in our office but credit where credit is due, the former league man played well. However, Skrela nailed his kicks and scored a memorable try for Toulouse.

9 Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz) – Has he ever let the Biarrots down? Once again Yachvili slotted over penalty after penalty to claim all of his side's points. The form of Byron Kelleher and Eoin Reddan – if he had scored – must also be mentioned in dispatches.

8 Jamie Heaslip (Leinster) – Everyone has praised the commitment of the man-in-the-mask Imanol Harinordoquy but on 80 minutes we have gone for the Irish number eight. Heaslip was fierce in defence and was well worthy of his try wide on the left wing.

7 Jean Bouilhou (Toulouse) – Wearing six but playing on the openside, the club captain was a very good lineout option for Toulouse and was part of Skrela's try. But it's just his general work-rate and speed of thought that makes Bouilhou a must in our line-up.

6 Magnus Lund (Biarritz) – He is no longer the forgotten man of English rugby. Lund recaptured his Sale form to prove to Martin Johnson that he has what it takes at the highest level. A thorn in the side of Munster and quite possibly covered the most ground in Spain.

5 Patricio Albacete (Toulouse) – Another solid carrying effort from the Argentine alongside Romain Millo-Chluski. Much like another back-row in this impressive Toulouse pack, Albacete won his battle with Nathan Hines and was a colossal for the French.

4 Trevor Hall (Biarritz) – Donncha O'Callaghan deserves credit for attempting to lead Munster in the absence of Paul O'Connell, with a galloping run bringing back memories of that try against Leicester in 2006. But we have gone for the physicality of BO lock Hall.

3 Campbell Johnstone (Biarritz) – While it was a prop against a scrum-half, Benoit Lecoul's missed tackle on Reddan did not go unnoticed by us at PR HQ. Therefore our tighthead slot goes the way of the New Zealander, who got the measure of opposite man Marcus Horan.

2 William Servat (Toulouse) – This one took some thinking as it became a toss-up between Servat and Benoit August with Jerry Flannery falling not too far behind. August was good at scrum-time while Flannery ran well but Servat's fine year just got better after Saturday.

1 Daan Human (Toulouse) – Another close call that had Eduard Coetzee in the mix but Human offered just that little bit extra from loosehead to land the jersey. One part of front-row trio that gave Cian Healy, John Fogarty and Stan Wright such a torrid time early on.

Compiled by Adam Kyriacou