{"id":433008,"date":"2026-04-13T08:53:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T08:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/433008\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T08:53:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T08:53:15","slug":"leinster-looking-forward-to-saturday-special-against-toulon-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/433008\/","title":{"rendered":"Leinster looking forward to Saturday special against Toulon \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, that worked out pretty well for Leinster<\/a> really. First and foremost, they secured their sixth Champions Cup<\/a> semi-final in succession by beating Sale 43-13<\/a> and, thanks to Toulon beating Glasgow earlier on Saturday, it will also be a fifth home semi-final in a row. <\/p>\n

Finally, on foot of Bordeaux B\u00e8gles<\/a> beating Toulouse<\/a> 30-15 in Sunday\u2019s quarter-final \u201cenorme\u201d<\/a>, the Leinster-Toulon tie<\/a> will take place on Saturday, May 2nd, at the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 3pm).<\/p>\n

Bordeaux will now host Bath in the other semi-final the next day \u2013 whereas if Toulouse had won then Leinster would have been given the Sunday afternoon slot. <\/p>\n

Similarly, Ulster<\/a> will have a home semi-final in the Challenge Cup<\/a> against Exeter after a 79th minute penalty by Henry Slade sealed Exeter\u2019s 44-41 win away to Benetton. So, instead of a trek to Treviso, Ulster will host Exeter in the Saturday teatime slot on May 2nd at 5.30pm in the Affidea Stadium. The Dragons will travel to Connacht\u2019s conquerors Montpellier. <\/p>\n

A Saturday afternoon slot for the Leinster-Toulon semi-final should make for a better attendance and atmosphere than a Sunday. <\/p>\n

\"MatthieuMatthieu Jalibert scores Bordeaux\u2019s second try against Toulouse on Sunday. Photograph: James Crombie\/INPHO <\/p>\n

Leinster are \u201cwhere we want to be\u201d, said stand-in captain Dan Sheehan<\/a> after the win over Sale, while admitting they had \u201clet things slide\u201d earlier this season. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur attack has been improving every week, and there is still so much more we can improve on. Lads are grabbing hold of it, as a player group as well as coaches,\u201d Sheehan said. \u201cI think we probably let things slide as a player group early in the season.\u201d <\/p>\n

Expanding on this, he said: \u201cIt\u2019s just making sure that we as a player group are holding ourselves accountable, not waiting for Leo [Cullen] or the rest of the coaching lads to pick up things.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many talented players in our squad that know the way we want to play, know how to do it and almost know how to coach it. If we can get as many lads as possible calling people out, chirping up in meetings, calling it as it is in training … we\u2019ve got so much potential and experience in the group, if we can get it all out in a positive and constructive way, we\u2019ll be in a good spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel good out there and that\u2019s what\u2019s frustrating about it because you\u2019re out there on the sideline, screaming for the ball, and we just can\u2019t get it through the hands or something happens at the breakdown and your hands are on your head because you just know that you\u2019re that close to breaking them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s rugby at this level, Sale put a lot of pressure on our breakdown and that\u2019s something they\u2019re very good at doing. But we need to make sure we\u2019re better at that. It does feel like we\u2019re getting there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Leinster'sLeinster’s Alex Usanov gets medical treatment during Saturday’s game against Sale. Photograph: Dan Clohessy\/INPHO <\/p>\n

Leinster\u2019s depleted loosehead stocks were further weakened by the unlucky Alex Usanov departing inside four minutes of his full European debut due to an ankle injury.<\/p>\n

Head coach Cullen said: \u201cIt\u2019s hard to see him playing next week anyway, but we\u2019ll see after that.\u201d He also said that in the Champions Cup \u201cyou can go with emergency frontrow cover. It\u2019s early days and we\u2019ll see. There\u2019s a few things that could potentially play out; a few young guys, too, which is good. Tricky time, yeah\u201d.<\/p>\n

Josh van der Flier<\/a> went off with an ankle injury and Ryan Baird was \u201cjust a bit banged up\u201d, while James Ryan<\/a> was restricted to 66 minutes on his return, with Sheehan playing the last 14 minutes in the backrow. \u201cJust a little bit of experimentation. And it looked good,\u201d Cullen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked about it, didn\u2019t we,\u201d he said, turning to Sheehan alongside him. <\/p>\n

\u201cNot recently,\u201d Sheehan said with a smile.<\/p>\n

The games are coming thick and fast. Leinster have another six-day turnaround before facing Ulster in the United Rugby Championship<\/a> (URC) at the Affidea Stadium next Friday, with their hosts one point and one place above them in third. <\/p>\n

One imagines pretty much all the team who started against Sale will have at least one of the next two weeks off, with the likelihood being that Cullen will mix and match his team rather than rest them all en bloc.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see how everyone is and make some calls. We\u2019ll go with a team that\u2019s intending to perform, get the right performance and try and get the right result. <\/p>\n

\"RyanRyan Baird scores a try for Leinster against Sale. Photograph: Dan Clohessy\/INPHO <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great challenge, Ulster are riding high at the moment and in a rich vein of form. A lot of good players, playing very well. Proper challenge for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheehan indicated he might be playing next Friday when discussing the versatility of his brother Bobby, who has played in the backrow as well as hooker, for UCD and this season Lansdowne.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe does a good bit of double jobbing and he\u2019s good at it. He\u2019ll play 80 minutes every week. Obviously he has a big game coming up now next week against \u2018Tarf,\u201d Dan Sheehan said in reference to one of next Saturday\u2019s AIL semi-final, namely Clontarf against Lansdowne in Castle Avenue at 4pm, which is preceded by the St Mary\u2019s-Terenure derby at 2pm.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to have a Friday game, so I can go and watch that semi-final.\u201d<\/p>\n

Champions Cup semi-finals<\/b><\/p>\n

Saturday, May 2nd: <\/b>Leinster v Toulon, Aviva Stadium (3pm). Live on Premier Sports<\/p>\n

Sunday, May 3rd:<\/b> Bordeaux v Bath, Stade Atlantique Bordeaux M\u00e9tropole (4pm local time\/3pm Irish). Live on Premier Sports.<\/p>\n

Challenge Cup Semi-finals <\/b><\/p>\n

Saturday, May 2nd:<\/b> Ulster v Exeter, Affidea Stadium (5.30pm), Live on Premier Sports.<\/p>\n

Sunday, May 3rd:<\/b> Montpellier v Dragons, Septeo Stadium (2.30pm local time\/1.30pm Irish). Live on Premier Sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Well, that worked out pretty well for Leinster really. First and foremost, they secured their sixth Champions Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[13425,56840,56839,87499,18,19,17,12861,53475,132,23200,42271],"class_list":{"0":"post-433008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-aviva-stadium","9":"tag-challenge-cup","10":"tag-champions-cup","11":"tag-dan-sheehan","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-leinster-rugby","16":"tag-leo-cullen","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-ulster-rugby","19":"tag-united-rugby-championship"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116396556777171454","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}