Province edges head-to-head eight to six, but have since added two more semi-final wins at the Aviva in last two seasons
Leinster's Rob Kearney with ball in hand during the Champions Cup semi-final against Toulouse at the Aviva Stadium in 2019. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho
They completed the double in 1995-96 but despite winning another three French Championships in the next five seasons the surprise was that Toulouse had to wait until 2003 for their second Heineken Cup when beating Perpignan in the final at the old Lansdowne Road.lock/blindside flanker deducing that if you can’t beat them then join them. Toulouse had won three of the first four meetings although, admittedly, Brennan played a part in the 40-10 win over them in the 2001-02 season.
That condemned Leinster to an away quarter-final which they lost in Leicester a fortnight later and as they suffered a semi-final loss at home to Perpignan, a pool exit and a quarter-final loss at home to Leicester, Toulouse made three successive finals, taking their haul to three trophies in 2005 when beating Stade Francais in Murrayfield.
Leinster' Gordon D'Arcy is tackled as he trys to break through the Toulouse defence. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho Leinster also out-Touloused Toulouse with the length of the pitch try by Denis Hickie after Felipe Contepomi instigated an attack off a turnover under his own posts. “Pure, typical Felipe,” says Kearney.
“Shaun hadn’t played an enormous amount at 10, we weren’t playing great rugby — it was Checks’ last year — but we would have been ahead had Eoin Reddan’s try not been disallowed just before half-time. But then in the second half they blew us away.” But whereas Leinster went on to win back-to-back titles, Toulouse suffered three pool exits and three quarter-final defeats before failing to even qualify for the Champions Cup in 2017-18. That season, Leinster drew level with a fourth star.
“But Kolbe was playing for them and he was electric. He made a break three minutes into the game and I was left one-on-one with him, when you literally just gamble on a side, left or right. Thankfully he went to the left too! But that was a very complete performance and they never really put us under a huge amount of stress.”
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