DUBLIN, May 2 (Reuters) - Leinster staved off a late charge from Toulon to secure a nail-biting 29-25 victory on Saturday that sees the Irish side through to the European Champions Cup final against either Bordeaux or Bath in Bilbao on May 23.
Playing on home turf and roared on by a partisan crowd, Leinster showed flashes of brilliance as well as plenty of indiscipline, and only barely managed to eke out the victory as Toulon stormed back late on, threatening to spoil the party.
With both sides missing early penalties, Leinster took the lead when Jack Conan barrelled over the line with tacklers hanging off him to score the game’s first try in the 12th minute, but a pair of penalties from Melvyn Jaminet kept the visitors in touch.
A Josh van der Flier try just after the half-hour mark looked set to give Leinster some breathing room as the break approached, but a yellow card for Andrew Porter led to a try by Setariki Tuicuvu, and Leinster were reduced to 13 men when Harry Byrne was yellow-carded in conjunction with that score.
Leinster somehow shook off being two players short, battering the Toulon line with relentless running early in the second half, with Garry Ringrose crossing for their well-deserved third try after an immense attacking effort.
Their task became somewhat easier when Toulon lost Teddy Baubigny to a yellow card for a head-high tackle on Van der Flier.
Seeking to kill off the game, Leinster stormed toward the Toulon line but were repelled time and again by the visiting defence. Captain Caelan Doris finally breached the rear-guard in the 67th minute, and Harry Byrne’s conversion put them 29-11 up with just over 10 minutes left to play.
Somehow Toulon came back again, and in the 70th minute a rapid Toulon attack off a line-out saw Baptiste Serin dart across the line to score a try that stunned the home crowd.
Sensing that Leinster were rattled, the French side powered forward again, and Gael Drean picked up a cross-field kick and danced past Sam Prendergast to score. The conversion made it 29-25 to set up a grandstand finish.
Toulon's speedy backline went in search of the try they needed to win but a knock-on during a late surge robbed them of their momentum, and Leinster held on to win.
"We got a little bit of separation at one stage but a team like Toulon... you know they're going to up things, you know they're going to throw the ball around a little bit more, and some of it came off for them," Leinster captain Doris said.
"A tough, tough fixture, I'm sure the crowd were on the edge of their seats, and the coaches as well at times, but delighted to be going to another final. A massive effort from all the boys to get us there."
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor; Editing by Ken Ferris and Clare Fallon)
