Leinster 32-23 Toulouse: Not even ten-minute loss of talismanic O'Driscoll can halt Irish drive to the final

It would surprise no-one very much if Leinster emulated that feat and lifted the trophy for the second time in three years when they play in Cardiff on May 21. Whichever side wins this afternoon's semi in Milton Keynes knows that they will have a fight on their hands.

The Dublin side were immense. They soaked up the Toulouse pressure when the French side had the whip hand. They played short-handed for five minutes either side of half time after Brian O'Driscoll was shown a yellow card and they kept their heads after Toulouse took the lead with tries at the start of the first and the second halves. If the self-belief displayed by this Leinster squad could be packaged and sold, all of Ireland's debt problems would disappear overnight.

Still the crowd were kept on the edge of their seats in a nervous final few minutes after a late penalty from Nicolas Bezy dragged Toulouse to within a converted try of taking the lead. In truth the Dubliners were never seriously troubled and instead Johnny Sexton kicked his sixth penalty of the match to take the game out of reach.

There were a host of heroes in blue but few deserve more accolades than that man O'Driscoll, who was rewarded for his decision in foregoing a certain wedding ceremony on Friday in order to be in the right frame of mind for yesterday's semi-final. Despite his yellow card, the Irish skipper bounced back with a try on the one hour mark which went a long way towards making this game safe since it gave Leinster a nine-point lead going into the final quarter.

Sexton kicked everything on the day, two conversions and six penalties, to finish the match with 22 points and the stand-off pulled the strings like a master puppeteer. But it was in the bump and shunt department that Leinster really shone and Scotland's Nathan Hines played his part.

The entire blue pack were tireless but backrow duo Jamie Heaslip and Sean O'Brien still stood out as they drove into the heart of the Toulouse defence with unflagging fervour. Both of Leinster's tries emerged after long periods of concerted pressure.

On the half hour mark Heaslip somehow slipped the ball through a forest of legs and arms to graze the Toulouse try line although the referee needed help from the TMO to confirm it.

Then, on 60 minutes, O'Driscoll was able to cut between Vincent Clerc and Census Johnston to dab down just to the left of the posts after his forwards had done all the hard graft, pounding away at the Toulouse line for what seemed like hours but was no more than a few exhausting minutes.

In contrast the French scores were simple and the first arrived as latecomers to the Aviva were still settling into their seats. O'Driscoll was penalised at the breakdown, David Skrela lined up the penalty and hit the left upright. A vicious bounce over O'Driscoll's head landed in the lap of centre Florian Fritz who will never score an easier try in his life.

Early in the second half, when O'Driscoll was still in the sin bin, Toulouse took advantage of a dominant scrum

One push over attempt was repelled, as was a second but No.8 Louis Picamoles combined with his scrumhalf to score almost uncontested after the second scrum broke up.

In was fortunate for flanker Yannick Nyanga that the match officials missed his tug on O'Brien's shirt which prevented the Irishman from making his tackle. O'Brien was equally lucky the officials missed his flailing hand which caught Nyanga square on the chops although the Frenchmen would probably consider it a good swap.

It was just one example of Toulouse's indiscipline that cost them dear on the day. While both sides scored two tries apiece, Sexton was gifted six penalty shots at goal and his forwards' hard graft ensured that they were in range of the posts.

For Toulouse, Skrela kicked a penalty and a drop goal and his replacement Bezy added a second penalty compared to Sexton's six which accounted for the nine-point margin.

Still, not all penalties are equal. When Joe Schmidt threw on the unheralded prop Heinke Van Der Merwe for Cian Healy on 54 minutes, the Leinster coach was probably gambling but came up trumps. At the very first scrum the South African prop got under the giant figure of Jonhston, forcing the Samoan up which allowed his side to regain the lead once more.

Leinster never looked back from then on, dominating the final quarter in a manner that makes then standout favourites for the final.

Scorers: Leinster: Tries: Heaslip, O'Driscoll. Cons: Sexton 2. Pens: Sexton 6. Toulouse: Tries: Fritz, Picamoles. Cons: Skrela 2. Pens: Skrela 2, Bezy. Drop goal: Skrela.

Leinster: I Nacewa; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, L Fitzgerald; J Sexton, E Reddan (Boss 52); C Healy (van der Merwe 52), R Strauss, M Ross, L Cullen (capt), N Hines, K McLaughlin (Jennings 52), S O'Brien, J Heaslip.

Toulouse: C Heymans; V Clerc, F Fritz (Jauzion 60), C Poitrenaud, M Medard; D Skrela (Bezy 67), J-M Doussain; J-B Poux (Human 45), W Servat, C Johnston), Y Maestri (Lamboley 60), P Albacete, J Bouilhou, Y Nyanga (Dusatoir 45), L Picamoles (Sowerby 64).

Referee: D Pearson. Attendance: 50,073