Leinster surge into Heineken final ( Leinster 32 - 23 Toulouse )

April 30, 2011

Leinster beat four time Champions Toulouse to book a place in the Heineken Cup final with a 32-23 victory at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

Leinster will face the winner of Sunday's Northampton Saints vs Perpignan match.

Ireland's 2009 European Cup winners gained revenge for losing to the French side at the same stage last year.

Tries from man of the match Jamie Heaslip and iconic centre Brian O'Driscoll - who had been sin-binned late in the first-half - plus 22 points from the boot of Ireland fly-half Jonathan Sexton saw the hosts progress to the final.

O'Driscoll, who had turned down an invitation to attend the Royal Wedding on Friday because of the match, admitted that his side hadn't played at their best but had importantly learnt from their defeat last year.

"What's changed from last year is that we took the lessons from the defeat and corrected some of the mistakes, " said the 33-year-old, whose try was his 30th in the competition putting him just two behind Toulouse star Vincent Clerc in the all-time standings.

"Defensively we fronted up when we needed to and we ground out a result when we were not at our best. We didn't play brilliantly but its all about getting across the victory line. "

Toulouse manager Guy Noves, who has guided then French side to their four European Cup victories, said he was disappointed but conceded that the better side had prevailed.

"This match will help us in the future, " said Noves, who is hoping his side go on to lift their first French league title since 2008.

"Despite our two tries and our workrate, we were beaten by a stronger side who deserved to win.

"Leinster were a lot more fluent than us. We were expecting a tough match, and we got one, " added the 57-year-old.

Toulouse had got a lucky break early on as David Skrela missed with a penalty but the bounce over the tryline tricked O'Driscoll - who had given away the original penalty - and Florian Fritz followed up the kick to touch down.

Sexton slotted over two penalties while Skrela grabbed one before Leinster got their first try.

It came after a sustained period of pressure on the Toulouse line saw Heaslip, who had started the initial move, just get the ball over the line for his ninth career try in the competition.

Sexton converted to make it 13-10 but then late in the half the hosts were hit by O'Driscoll's sinbinning after a tackle on Clerc.

Skrela slotted over the penalty but Leinster went in 16-13 up after the metronomic Sexton added a penalty on the stroke of half-time.

The visitors regained the lead five minutes into the second-half, with O'Driscoll still off the pitch, as former France backrow forward Louis Picamoles went over and Skrela added the conversion.

Sexton, though, kept adding vital points for the hosts as after Shane Horgan had made a great foray into Toulouse territory the visitors were penalised and Sexton stroked over a superb penalty from out on the left.

The home supporters joy -- and that of O'Driscoll -- was unconfined as the Ireland captain broke through a lame tackle by Clerc in the 59th minute to touch down for a try - which Sexton converted for a 29-20 lead.

The Leinster defence held firm as did their discipline under great pressure but the visitors reduced the deficit to six points with six minutes remaining when Nicolas Bezy slotted over a penalty.

However, despite Noves sending on veteran Yannick Jauzion they were not able to break the Irish side and it was Sexton who rounded off the scoring with another superb penalty on the final whistle to make it eight successful kicks from eight attempts.

Jamie Heaslip won the man-of-the-match award.

Final Score Leinster (16) 32 Toulouse (13) 23

Scorers

Leinster
Tries: Heaslip, O'Driscoll
Cons: Sexton 2
Pens: Sexton 6

Toulouse
Tries: Fritz, Picamoles
Cons: Skrela 2
Pens: Skrela, Bezy
Drop goal: Skrela

Referee: Dave Pearson (England)

Teams

Leinster: I Nacewa; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, L Fitzgerald; J Sexton, E Reddan; C Healy, R Strauss, M Ross, L Cullen [capt], N Hines, K McLaughlin, S O'Brien, J Heaslip

Replacements: J Harris-Wright, H Van Der Merwe, S Wright, D Toner, S Jennings, I Boss, I Madigan, F McFadden

Toulouse: C Heymans; V Clerc, F Fritz, C Poitrenaud, M Medard; D Skrela, J Doussain; J-B Poux, W Servat, C Johnston, Y Maestri, P Albacete, J Bouilhou [capt], Y Nyanga, L Picamoles

Replacements: V Lacombe, D Human, J Falefa, T Dusautoir, N Bezy, Y Jauzion, S Sowerby, *G Lamboley or R Caucaunibuca