London Irish 15-21 Toulouse

Toulouse won through to their fifth European Cup final after just doing enough to beat London Irish 21-15 in a gripping encounter at Twickenham.

The three-time European champions will now face the winners of Sunday's second semi-final between Saracens and Munster at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on 24 May.

Tongan centre Manu Ahotaeiloa and France hooker William Servat both scored tries for Toulouse with the remainder of the French giants' points coming from the boot of Jean-Baptiste Elissalde.

Wings Topsy Ojo and Sailosi Tagicakibau both crossed for London Irish, making their first appearance in a European Cup semi-final.

But although Australian full-back Peter Hewat kicked a penalty and a conversion for the Exiles, he also missed two of his four goalkicks.

Toulouse, playing at Twickenham for the first time since losing the 2004 European Cup final against Wasps, took the field without several injured backs including the French international trio of Vincent Clerc, Clement Poitrenaud and Florian Fritz.

Nevertheless, they went ahead in the 10th minute when Elissalde landed a penalty after the Exiles were offside.

Minutes later, Hewat kicked a penalty to make it 3-3.

The match became bogged down until the 20th minute when London Irish went ahead with the game's first try.

Following a quick tap penalty, Samoa's Tagicakibau released Ojo, who stepped outside Elissalde and inside Cedric Heymans for a score, which Hewat converted to give London Irish a 10-3 lead.

Elissalde then made a horrible mess of a 40 metre penalty attempt and former France captain Fabien Pelous, with four men outside him, ruined a potential try-scoring move with a forward pass.

But Toulouse then showed their class with two tries inside the final six minutes of the first-half that gave them a 15-10 interval lead.

From quick ruck ball, wing Maxime Medard found Ahotaeiloa and, with little room to work in on the touchline, he went in at the right corner.

Brilliant handling by Heymans kept alive a move that led to a lineout close to the London Irish line.

Yannick Nyanga won the ball at the set-piece and, from the ensuing ruck, Servat drove over for the try. This time Elissalde converted and Toulouse had a five-point advantage.

But that disappeared early in the second-half.

There seemed little danger when Peter Richards's pass found Tagicakibau all but stationary on the left touchline.

But he shook off Heymans's poor attempt at a tackle and brushed aside Medard before going in for a fine solo try. Hewat missed the conversion but the match was now all square at 15-15.

However, London Irish indiscipline allied to good Toulouse pressure saw the French side then go clear again after Elissalde kicked two penalties to make it 21-15.

Elissalde continued to play on despite a knee injury as Toulouse only had one back on their bench in the inexperienced Maxime Mermoz.

Tagicakibau and Ojo then threatened another try from broken field play but this time the Toulouse defence held firm.

Hewat, with 16 minutes left, nearly cut Toulouse's lead to three points but his penalty from just inside half-way, faded at the last.

Richards, normally a scrum-half but playing at centre because veteran Mike Catt was injured, then had the chance of a match-turning try when he sprinted clear but, with men outside him, was tackled by Heymans, Toulouse's last line of defence.