Jonathan Sexton steers Leinster into the Champions Cup Final, dethroning Toulouse

May 14, 2022
2052
Ultimate Rugby

Defending Champions Cup winners Toulouse have crashed out of the competition succumbing to a 40-17 loss to Leinster in the semi-final at Aviva Stadium.

Leinster captain Jonathan Sexton steered Leinster to victory assisting three of the Irish Province's four tries and knocked over 15 points from the tee.

Going in search of their fifth Champions Cup title, Leinster will now face the winners of the other Champions Cup semi-final between Racing 92 and La Rochelle.

The Irish Province made an impressive start to the match setting up camp in the Toulouse half but initially found it difficult to crack it wide open. Jimmy O'Brien was stopped just short after a sharp tackle by Toulouse winger Matthis Lebel but Leinster did open the scoring soon after through a Sexton penalty.

Toulouse hit back swiftly through Antoine Dupont against the run of play. Tadhg Furlong had thrown a wonderful long pass out to Hugo Keenan who sped into the Toulouse 22. Leinster looked to turn up the hit with a grubber kick from Jamison Gibson-Park but Dupont managed to get his body in the way, regather the ball and speed away under the posts. Toulouse led 3-7.

Antoine Dupont scores, ofcourse he does 🔥#HeinekenChampionsCup #LEIvTOU pic.twitter.com/xU8lG7U1y4
— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) May 14, 2022

Leinster got right back to and responded well by attacking into the Toulouse half. Earning a penalty in the 12th minute, Sexton opted for the three points as the hosts trailed by just one.

The hosts piled on the pressure once again and kicked a third penalty to the corner. Sexton created Leinster's first try as he threw a smart inside ball to James Lowe as the winger bundled over the line.

The veteran pivot was in the thick of it again as he threw a dummy and found Josh van der Flier in support to extend the lead, he once again made no mistake with the extras.

Thomas Ramos added three points from the tee. The pressure on Toulouse was multiplied as Emmanuel Meafou was sin-binned for an illegal tackle before half time.

Leinster grabbed their third try, as Sexton slung the ball wide to Lowe, who planted down for his second of the afternoon.

Toulouse hit back in the second half and flirted with a comeback as Tolofua powered over in the corner after a strong maul, Ramos’ conversion from out wide narrowing the gap to 13 points with just under a quarter on an hour to play.

The comeback would fall short as Toulouse struggled to crack the Leinster defence. The hosts made the pressure pay adding one final try before the final whistle as full-back Keenan dived over to cap a memorable afternoon in Dublin.

Sexton's performance was the highlight of Leinster's victory with the flyhalf dictating playing with ball in hand and via his boot.