Both Leinster's quarter and semi-final wins in the Heineken Champions Cup can be summed up by their reaction to yellow cards.
If you looked at the bare statistics of Saturday's win against Toulouse without knowing the score in advance, a 19-point Leinster victory, and one that was sewn up with a quarter of an hour to play, it is probably the last thing you'd have guessed.
Evenly balanced on possession and territory, Toulouse outnumbered the hosts considerably in carries (157 to 98), defenders beaten (36 to 15), and even accounting for the fact that they became loose as they chased the game late on, they offloaded more than Leinster on a ratio of 7:1.
The stats don't account for game management though, and that's where the gulf between the sides lay at the Aviva Stadium.
A pair of Toulouse yellow cards resulted in 28 points for Leo Cullen's side, which ultimately proved to be the winning and losing of the game.
It was the inverse of their quarter-final success against the Leicester Tigers three weeks ago.
On that occasion, Leinster were on the receiving end of a sin-binning when Caelan Doris was carded for a high tackle early in the second half, at a stage in the game when the Premiership side were starting to get on top, and having cut the Leinster lead to 17-10.
By the time Doris returned to the pitch, his side were 27-10 in front, and on the verge of putting the game to bed.
Even in a game of 80 minutes, they can be won and lost in a block of 10.
"It was such a tight game, we knew that when we had those windows to take advantage, we had to strike," said captain James Ryan of his side's clinical scoring.
"I thought we managed those parts of the game well when we needed to, taking advantage when they were a man down, and we did it pretty well.
"The scoreline probably flattered us a little bit, I know that's a bit of a cliche. That was probably the toughest game we played all season, particularly that first 40 minutes. Toulouse are one of the best attacking sides in Europe and defensively we knew it was going to be such a big test for us, heading into the game.
"When you're able to deliver when it matters today, it's very satisfying for us as a club."
Toulouse were architects of their own downfall with those yellow cards, in in particular the second of those from Rodrigue Neti, their coaching staff will also face questions for their selection and substitution decisions.
Even accounting for hindsight, the decision to replace the injured centre Pierre Louis Barassi with scrum-half Paul Graou was perplexing in the early stages of the game, a move which forced Toulouse's most dangerous attacking backs to change position.
Having gone with a 6:2 split on the bench, it left Toulouse with scrum-half Graou and wing Arthur Retiere as the backline replacement options. An early backline injury will always test out the 6:2 split, and so it came to pass; outside centre Barassi (below) limped off after 14 minutes.
The obvious substitution - even at the time - appeared to be bringing Retiere onto the wing and moving Juan Cruz Mallia into the centre, a position the Argentinean has plenty of experience of, most notably the 2021 Champions Cup final where he scored the decisive try.
Instead, Graou was called upon, and the net result of the scrum-half's arrival was that Antoine Dupont pushed back to out-half, with Romain Ntamack moving into the centre, and although both players have experience in those positions they never posed the same threat.
"We have a potential error, so when you lose you are an idiot," said Toulouse head coach Ugo Mola.
"My coaching advice was not a winning one, but Paul [Graou] came in and we were under pressure collectively and he did a good match, total commitment. It is a learning for him but we don’t regret the choice."
Leinster's win sets up a mouth-watering final against La Rochelle back at the Aviva Stadium on 20 May, 12 months on from their heart-breaking defeat to Ronan O'Gara's side in the decider in Marseille, as well as the semi-final loss in 2021.
The French side are the only team to have won a Champions Cup game against Leinster since their quarter-final loss against Saracens in 2020.
"It's not really about getting to the final, it's about winning it," Ryan said.
"So, you've just got to keep getting better, looking at our performances and seeing what we can do better. Doing things we can build on.
"There's plenty from that game that we can be better at, so we'll look at those things and be better; we have to be better next week as well."
And the second row, who will play in his fourth Champions Cup decider, says this one will be extra special.
"Having a final in Dublin, it is the stuff of dreams. We haven't been in that position before, it will be important in terms of how we manage the group.
"We have to strip it back, don't get too side-tracked by the occasion and be very much process-focused. I know that's boring, but that's what will be needed."
