Leo Cullen’s blunt verdict on Leinster challenge against Toulon’s ‘all-star squad’ in Investec Champions Cup semi-final
After his side’s impressive victory over Sale Sharks on Saturday, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen is wary of their Investec Champions Cup semi-final opponents, Toulon.
The Irish province were in a rampant mood at the Aviva Stadium as they outscored Sale by six tries to one and booked their place in the last four courtesy of a 43-13 triumph.
That result sees Leinster advance to their fifth successive home semi-final although Cullen is not underestimating their opponents, particularly after they suffered a shock loss to Northampton in their 2025 last four clash.
‘We didn’t manage to get the job done’
“We were here (at the Aviva) for the semi-final last year and we didn’t manage to get the job done,” he said.
Despite languishing in 11th position in the Top 14 standings, Toulon have beaten the United Rugby Championship’s (URC) top two teams in successive weeks as after clinching a narrow 28-27 win over the Stormers in their round-of-16 clash, they also edged out Glasgow Warriors 22-19 at Scotstoun on Saturday.
That means Leinster can ill afford to underestimate Pierre Mignoni and his troops and judging from Cullen’s talk his team are not taking Toulon lightly.
“They’ve an all-star squad, haven’t they? They’ve plenty of firepower there,” he said of Toulon. “It’s another great challenge for us as a group.
“It’s great to again be in the semi-final of the tournament, but we know how bloody tough it is.
“Glasgow were probably the form team in Europe going into this weekend and they (Toulon) managed to get the job done up there.
“They’re a team that has caused plenty of pain, towards the tail end of my playing career and into my early coaching career. It causes a lot of pain.
“Some very, very tough days against them that I can remember.”
Still waiting on exact date of semi-final
Although Leinster will host their Champions Cup semi-final with Toulon at the Aviva Stadium, the exact date of the eagerly anticipated showdown is not finalised yet.
That will be determined by the winners of the last quarter-final between Bordeaux-Bègles and Toulouse at Stade Chaban-Delmas on Sunday.
A win for the home side, who are also the tournament’s defending champions, will mean they host Bath on Sunday, May 3, while Leinster will then take on Toulon at the Aviva Stadium on the previous day.
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
However, if Toulouse beat UBB, then they will be in action on Saturday, May 2 while Leinster and Toulon’s match will then take place on the Sunday.
Leinster’s focus now turns to the URC where they are set to face Ulster and Benetton in tough away fixtures over the next two weekends.
The clash against Toulon, who won three successive Champions Cup titles between 2013 and 2015, is set to be a humdinger but although Cullen is looking forward to that challenge, he is not getting ahead of himself in the build-up to that match.
“They’re a team with some serious firepower. But in between now and then, we’ve got some URC action to look forward to,” he added.
“Ulster in six days’ time, speaking of teams that are in very, very good form at the moment.”
READ MORE: Leinster v Sale: Five takeaways as ‘lion king’ roars again during ‘ugly duckling’ of a quarter-final