Cream rises to the top with Leinster and Toulouse set for Saturday afternoon showdown

La Rochelle’s 24-10 win over Saracens in the Stade Marcel Deflandre on Sunday afternoon completed a stellar semi-final line-up in the Champions Cup, featuring four of the last five winners.

Akin to the eight ties in the round of 16, the four highest-seeded sides and four home teams in the quarter-finals all advanced, and for the most part in fairly sensational style.

Ronan O’Gara’s reigning champions will now host the 2020 winners Exeter Chiefs in Bordeaux on Sunday, April 30th (3pm Irish time), after the Chiefs beat the Stormers on Saturday, while Leinster will welcome Toulouse to the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, April 29th (3pm kick-off) in a mouthwatering reprise of last season’s semi-final between the four-time and five-time winners.

In response to Leinster’s 55-24 win over Leicester Tigers on Friday night, Toulouse pulled clear of a jet-lagged Sharks in equally brilliant fashion to win by 54-20 at a packed, sun-drenched Stade Ernest Wallon on Saturday.

The Counter Ruck: the rugby newsletter from The Irish Times

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Toulouse, and especially their French international frontliners, were a little weary and sated when beaten 40-17 by Leinster at the same stage last season, after winning the double the season before and then securing the Grand Slam two months previously.

This time they look an altogether more dangerous proposition and are also expected to have captain and hooker Julien Marchand back from injury.

By contrast, Ryan Baird and James Lowe are major doubts for the semi-final due to the shoulder and calf injuries they suffered against Leicester. An update is expected on Monday before Leo Cullen brings a second/third string squad to South Africa on Tuesday for their concluding URC games against the Lions and Bulls, secure in the knowledge that they have secured top seeding.

Hence, a la the Champions Cup knock-out stages, they have the possibility of a home route to a final in the Aviva Stadium.

Stuart Lancaster will remain at their UCD base with the frontliners and perhaps this ability to target the Champions Cup semi-final will be amplified abroad, although as Toulouse sit atop the Top 14, Ugo Mola will probably take a similar approach to their game away to Stade Francais in a fortnight.

Leinster’s supposed advantages, and as a capital city-based province they undoubtedly have some, have come to the fore as their unbeaten season has extended into 22 games.

In the wake of Leinster’s Round of 16 win over Ulster, the latter’s head coach Dan McFarland commented: “I can’t change the demographics. They’ve just got way more rugby players, way more earning potential in terms of the money.”

Similarly, the Tigers’ head coach Richard Wigglesworth described Leinster as “an outstanding team with quality internationals and quality coaches”, before adding: “But the gulf is in what you have available to spend. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong. I’m not asking to spend more money. I’m just being clear.”

Informed of these comments, Leo Cullen initially laughed them off.

“Not long ago we were having the conversation about the gulf between us and other teams, French teams in particular.

“Obviously English rugby is going through a tricky patch at the moment, so they’ve had to shrink their budgets off the back of what’s going on in the game and clubs going out of business. So, that’s probably called what, sensible business?

“We’re just focusing on what we can. I always think we’re only scratching the surface of what potential we have,” he added, citing how Leinster sought to broaden their support base this season throughout the province.

“What other teams say is sort of wasted energy for me commenting on it even, isn’t it?”

Clearly though, the comments rankled, for when asked to explain what Leinster do now compared to when he first broke into the team as a player in the late 1990s, Cullen recalled the semi-final loss at home to Perpignan 20 years ago, after which “you were a little bit ashamed to walk our your front door because we underachieved”.

“We were watching other provinces lift European Cups, Ulster in the late 90s, and that was on the back of Ulster winning, 10 or 11 interpros in the 1980s or 1990s, which is when I started watching rugby. So, that’s my formative years of watching rugby which was complete domination by Ulster.

“More recently, if you think about that period in 2003; Munster were the dominant province in Ireland, weren’t they?

“People have short memories, unfortunately I have a long one. It’s a moment in time, isn’t it?” he continued, before hailing the work of his assistant coaches and those in the academy and sub-academy.

“It’s hard work, there’s no secret to success. You’ve got to have guys who are willing to put in hard work and the minute you get complacent there’s somebody else waiting to take your spot.

“What would you say Ulster’s domination in the 1980s and ‘90s was based on? Probably a really strong group of players who worked hard for each other and that’s what we’re trying to create here ... . It’s not rocket science.

“Munster? What was that based on? A strong group of players who worked really hard for each other. We were hugely envious of that at the time, they had domination for 10-12 years.

“Yeah, people have funny memories haven’t they?”