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Champions Cup semi-final: Leinster v Toulon - All You Need to Know

19 December 2015; Cian Healy, Leinster, is tackled by Steffon Armitage, left, and Anthony Etrillard, Toulon. European Rugby Champions Cup, Pool 5, Round 4, Leinster v RC Toulon. Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne Road, Dublin. Picture credit: Stephen McCarthy / SPO
Toulon have won all four previous meetings between themselves and Leinster

We're down to the final four in both the Investec Champions and Challenge Cup, and there is Irish interest across both competitions on Saturday afternoon and evening.

For the fifth year in a row, Leinster have a home Champions Cup semi-final to look forward to.

Twelve months on from their shock defeat to Northampton Saints, Leo Cullen's side host Toulon at Aviva Stadium, the prize on offer being a final against either Bordeaux-Begles or Bath at San Mames in Bilbao in three weeks.

Meanwhile, we have a rare Challenge Cup semi-finalist from Ireland this season, with Ulster also looking to book a trip to the Basquwe Country.

Richie Murphy's side host Exeter Chiefs in Belfast at 5.30pm on Saturday, with Montpellier or the Dragons awaiting the winner


ONLINE

We'll have live scoring, reports and reaction on RTÉ.ie/sport.

RADIO

Listen to live commentary of Leinster v Toulon on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport.

TV

All games involving the Irish provinces in the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup are live on Premier Sports.

WEATHER

Weather conditions in Dublin on Saturday afternoon look slightly unpredictable, with Met Éireann forecasting temperatures of around 13C, with the chance of some scattered showers and light enough wind.

Up in Belfast it looks like it could be similar. It's forecast to be slightly warmer, around 15C, with the chance of some light rain showers mixed with sunny spells.

Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and email us at sportpodcasts@rte.ie


While they share seven Champions Cup titles between them, this will be just the fifth meeting of these teams in the 31-year history of the competition.

All four of those previous meetings came in a short spell between April 2014 and December 2015 when the French side were in their pomp, with all four won by Toulon, who were champions in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Remarkably, this is Toulon's first time back in the semi-finals since winning the last of their three-in-a-row, while Leinster are at this stage for the 18th time in their history.

Their record in semi-finals is split evenly - eight wins and eight defeats, although they have won six of their last seven home semis.

Toulon produced a surprise victory against Glasgow Warriors to make to this stage, while they were seventh seeds coming into the knockout stage after finishing second in Pool B, with a narrow home win against Munster along the way.

Their European run has belied a patchy domestic season for Pierre Mignot's side, who are currently eighth in the Top14, five points off the play-offs with four games left to play.

Winger Gael Drean is the joint top try-scorer in the Champions Cup this season, with seven tries in six games.


Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Tommy O'Brien, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Rieko Ioane; Harry Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tom Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).

Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Jerry Cahir, Rabah Slimani, Alex Soroka, Scott Penny, Luke McGrath, Sam Prendergast, Jamie Osborne.

Toulon: Melvyn Jaminet; Gaël Drean, Nacho Brex, Jérémy Sinzelle, Seta Tuicuvu; Tomas Albornoz, Ben White; Jean-Baptiste Gros, Teddy Baubigny, Kyle Sinckler; Corentin Mezou, David Ribbans; Junior Kpoku, Charles Ollivon, Mikheil Shioshvili.

Replacements: Gianmarco Lucchesi, Daniel Brennan, Beka Gigashvili, Matthias Halagahu, Zach Mercer, Baptiste Serin, Esteban Abadie, Mathis Ferte.

Referee: Luke Pearce (RFU)

When these sides last met, Ulster were 52-24 winners in the pool stage of last season's Champions Cup, a result that saw Richie Murphy's side squeeze through to the Round of 16.

This promises to be a much closer affair.

Both sides endured a tough campaign last season, which explains why they have found themselves in this Challenge Cup. And while Ulster's recent form has slipped, both teams have come back impressively in this campaign.

The province are looking to reach a European final for the first time since 2012, with both previous finals coming in the Champions Cup.

Exeter, also a previous Champions Cup winner, have only had three previous seasons of Challenge Cup rugby.

Rob Baxter's Chiefs have put last year's struggled behind them and are fighting with Bristol for a fourth place finish in the Premiership, with four games left to play, while they have seen off Munster and Benetton in the previous rounds of the Challenge Cup, the latter of which came away from home.


Ulster: Mike Lowry; Zac Ward, Jude Postlethwaite, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Jack Murphy, Nathan Doak; Sam Crean, Tom Stewart, Tom O'Toole; Iain Henderson (capt), Cormac Izuzhukwu; David McCann, Nick Timoney, Juarno Augustus.

Replacements: James McCormick, Eric O’Sullivan, Tom McAllister, Charlie Irvine, Bryn Ward, Conor McKee, Jake Flannery, Ethan McIlroy.

Exeter Chiefs: Ben Hammersley; Campbell Ridl, Henry Slade, Len Ikitau, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso; Harvey Skinner, Steve Varney; Scott Sio, Max Norey, Bachuki Tchumbadze; Dafydd Jenkins (capt), Andrea Zambonin; Tom Hooper, Christ Tshiunza, Ross Vintcent

Replacements: Joseph Dweba, Ethan Burger, Josh Iosefa-Scott, Rus Tuima, Finn Worley-Brady, Tom Cairns, Will Haydon-Wood, Nick Lilley

Referee: Pierre Brousset (FFR)


FULL LIST OF CHAMPIONS CUP QUARTER-FINALS

FULL LIST OF CHALLENGE CUP QUARTER-FINALS

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