Leinster advance to Investec Champions Cup final after narrow triumph over Toulon
Leinster centre Garry Ringrose celebrates after scoring a try against Toulon.
Leinster became the first team to reach this season’s Investec Champions Cup final after clinching a 29-25 victory over Toulon in their semi-final at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
As the scoreline suggests, this was a tightly contested affair, especially in the game’s closing stages when Toulon launched a comeback, but Leinster were deserved winners in the end as they eventually outscored their opponents by four tries to three.
Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Garry Ringrose and Caelan Doris dotted down for the Irish province while Harry Byrne succeeded with three conversions and a penalty.
For Toulon, Melvyn Jaminet led the way with a 10-point haul courtesy of two penalties and as many conversions, with their other points coming via tries from Setariki Tuicuvu, Baptiste Serin and Gael Drean.
The sides were evenly matched during the opening exchanges, and both teams missed opportunities to open the scoring when Byrne and Jaminet were off target with penalty attempts inside the opening 10 minutes.
Shortly afterwards, Leinster took the ball through several phases inside Toulon’s 22 with Conan running onto a pass from Jamison Gibson-Park before crashing over for the opening try.
Setback for Leinster
However, the home side suffered a setback in the 15th minute when Robbie Henshaw was forced off the field due to a head injury after coming off second best while trying to halt a barnstorming run from Mikheil Shioshvili.
The visitors struck back via successive three-pointers off the kicking tee from Jaminet, which meant Leinster held a slender 7-6 lead by the 26th minute.
Leinster soon regained the initiative when Van der Flier crashed over for his five-pointer after a choreographed move from a tap penalty on Toulon’s five-metre line with captain Doris offloading to his back-row partner in the build-up.
Things went pear-shaped for Leinster in the dying moments of the half when Andrew Porter was yellow-carded for making head contact during a tackle on Shioshvili, and soon after, Toulon made full use of their numerical advantage as Tuicuvu went over in the left-hand corner for their first try.
Leinster were then reduced to 13 players as referee Luke Pearce also sent Byrne to the sin bin for a cynical defensive foul in the build-up to Tuicuvu’s try.
That meant that the match was evenly poised as the teams changed sides at half-time with Leinster holding a 14-11 lead.
Soon after the restart, Toulon were dealt a blow when Teddy Baubigny also received a yellow card, following an illegal hit on Van der Flier.
Leinster once again opted to take a tap penalty, despite being within goal-kicking range, and they were rewarded as Ringrose scooped up a wayward pass from Van der Flier on his way over the try-line.
Porter and Byrne soon returned from their stints in the sin bin, and the latter increased his side’s lead when he slotted a penalty in the 49th minute.
Leinster continued to hold the upper hand as the match progressed, and in the 67th minute their dominance was rewarded when Doris showed great determination and leg drive before crossing for a converted try, which gave his side a 29-11 lead.
Toulon finished stronger, however, and were rewarded with late tries from Serin and Drean. The visitors went in search of the win, but despite a tense finish, Leinster kept them at bay with a resilient defensive effort to book their spot in this year’s Investec Champions Cup final.
The teams
Leinster: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Harry Byrne, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (c), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Jack Conan, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tom Clarkson, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Jerry Cahir, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Alex Soroka, 20 Scott Penny, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Sam Prendergast, 23 Jamie Osborne
Toulon: 15 Melvyn Jaminet, 14 Gaël Drean, 13 Nacho Brex, 12 Jérémy Sinzelle, 11 Setariki Tuicuvu, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Ben White, 8 Mikheil Shioshvili, 7 Charles Ollivon, 6 Junior Kpoku, 5 David Ribbans, 4 Corentin Mezou, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Teddy Baubigny, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Daniel Brennan, 18 Beka Gigashvili, 19 Matthias Halagahu, 20 Zach Mercer, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Esteban Abadie, 23 Mathis Ferte
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Christophe Ridley (England), Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)