Leinster welcome Toulon to the Aviva Stadium on Saturday for the Champions Cup semi-final, in what will be a repeat of the 2015 semi- final that was at Toulon.
Toulon vs Leinster in 2015 became an all-time classic due to the drama and the fact it went extra-time, which is a rarity in rugby union, making it an incredible game.
Toulon vs Leinster 2015 Champions Cup semi-final teams
| Toulon | Leinster | ||||
| Forwards | |||||
| Xavier Chiocci | 1 | Cian Healy | |||
| Guilhem Guirado | 2 | Sean Cronin | |||
| Carl Hayman | 3 | Mike Ross | |||
| Bakkies Botha | 4 | Devin Toner | |||
| Ali Williams | 5 | Mike McCarthy | |||
| Juan Smith | 6 | Jordi Murphy | |||
| Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe | 7 | Sean O’Brien | |||
| Chris Masoe | 8 | Jamie Heaslip | |||
| Backs | |||||
| Sebastien Tillous-Borde | 9 | Isaac Boss | |||
| Frederic Michalak | 10 | Jimmy Gopperth | |||
| Bryan Habana | 11 | Luke Fitzgerald | |||
| Matt Giteau | 12 | Ian Madigan | |||
| Mathieu Basteraud | 13 | Ben Te’o | |||
| Delon Armitage | 14 | Fergus McFadden | |||
| Leigh Halfpenny | 15 | Rob Kearney | |||
| Replacements | |||||
| Jean-Charles Orioli | 16 | Richardt Strauss | |||
| Alexandre Menini | 17 | Jack McGrath | |||
| Levan Chilachava | 18 | Marty Moore | |||
| Steffon Armitage | 19 | Ben Marshall | |||
| Drew Mitchell | 20 | Dominic Ryan | |||
| Rudi Wulf | 21 | Eoin Reddan | |||
| Michael Classens | 22 | Gordan D’Arcy | |||
| Jocelino Suta | 23 | Zane Kirchner | |||
The story of the match
The game started at an incredible pace. Just four minutes in, a huge kick was dotted down by Chris Mason after the ball was fumbled at the back. The number was in front of the kicker, and therefore they went back for an earlier advantage to put Toulon 3-0 ahead.
This was the only “try” of the 80 minutes as the teams only scored from the tee. The final penalty went over in the 70th minute when Iain Madigan brought the scores to 12-12 from a difficult angle at distance.
Jimmy Gopperth had the best opportunity to win the match in the final minutes, but his drop goal slid right of the posts with two minutes to go. Rob Kearney tried a drop goal from over halfway in the final minute but left it short.
As the clock was getting ready to go red, Toulon were given a penalty more than 55 metres out. Dillon Armitage stepped up for Toulon, but the penalty landed short, and when Sean O’Brien kicked it out, the game was sent to extra time.
Extra time
In extra time, the drama didn’t stop. In the first 10 minutes, Toulon kicked two penalties and Leinster one. The All-Black second row, Ali Williams, picked up a yellow card, which should have given Leinster the numerical advantage.
As the first half of extra time was about to come to an end, Leinster launched an attack. Iain Madigan tried to use the man advantage and throw a wide miss pass. Bryan Habana intercepted, and Toulon took a 25-15 lead.
Leinster fought back in the second period of extra time, but an unconverted Sean O’Brien maul try left Leinster with too much to do.
