Leinster v Toulouse as it happened

Man of the match Jamie Heaslip: “It wasn’t a case of revenge, we had our goal, which was winning the competition, they just happened to be the team we were playing in the semis. They played some amazing rugby and I don’t think we played that well, but no guts, no glory. But we’ll have to be on top of our game to win it.”

1720: That’s only the second time Leinster have reached the final of the Heineken Cup – the first was when they won it in 2009 – and they will meet either Northampton or Perpignan in the final on 21 May in Cardiff.

79 min: Poitrenaud comes clear… but here comes Strauss! PENALTY LEINSTER! And that’s the game, baby!

78 min: All Toulouse now but Bezy’s pass to Jauzion is forward and Leinster can breathe again. Big old shove but Heaslip to the rescue again. Go for the corner, surely, but Stan Wright knocks forward and it’s a Toulouse scrum. Time for big men with big cojones – whose are bigger?

75 min: PENALTY Leinster 29-23 Toulouse Poitrenaud looking to conjure something but it’s lateral and Jauzion is eventually clattered. But it’s a Toulouse penalty, Bezy to take it… long-range, but he’s nailed it. This match is now officially a modern classic.

73 min: Clerc with one of those slashing runs of his but he bounces off a brick wall. Jauzion almost through before Medard has a go… Toulouse swinging it left, then right… Lamboley almost over, but he’s scragged by Nacewa and Heaslip burgles it. Looks like Leinster are gonna hold firm, it’s a 22 drop-out…

71 min: Good hands Poitrenaud, like a magician with the back of his hand, but Leinster smother Toulouse’s work again. Nacewa with a knock-on, though, Toulouse scrum on the Leinster 22…

69 min: Boss thinks he’s away for a try – and he would have been – but Jennings is pinged for kicking the ball out of the number eight’s feet. Leinster coming on like a seventh sense in the final 20 minutes, Toulouse looking pretty frayed now. O’Brien like a lemming every time he receives the ball, throwing himself off cliffs, and that’s magnificent work on the ground from Heaslip. Toulouse win it back – but Lamboley eventually spills the ball.

65 min: Jauzion on. Fabulous intensity, you have to say this tournament is a class above the Six Nations, by pretty much every measure. Strauss picks off the Toulouse line-out and O’Brien brings it free. Picamoles off, Sowerby on at number eight for Toulouse.

60 min: TRY Leinster 29-20 Toulouse Phase upon phase now for the hosts as the Aviva faithful get throaty. Ross held up short before Hines is wrapped up, the tackle as tight as the bark on a tree. O’DRISCOLL OVER! He steps between Clerc and Johnston and flops over, made it look far easier than it was. That was his 30th Heineken Cup try, he’s now two behind Clerc on the all-time list. Sexton extends the lead to nine, the visitors now require two scores.

57 min: Leinster having a real go at the French side now, running it from deep, before Nacewa receives treatment for a gash on the noggin. Jauzion stripping off, he’ll be on for Toulouse in a moment. This match bubbling over now, it’s really heady stuff.

54 min: PENALTY Leinster 22-20 Toulouse It’s Sexton with the resulting penalty kick and he slides another one through – Leinster lead again, six out of six so far.

53 min: Just seen a replay of the Picamoles try and we have more controversy – Nyanga was clearly holding O’Brien back at the rear of the ruck, and he wore a forearm for his troubles. He won’t mind, though, job done. Tremendous defence from Heymans, swerving his way out of trouble, a la Phil Bennett. But here comes D’Arcy… bullocking break from Healy! Like a rhinoceros with a dart up his backside, he steams through Heymans before carrying deep into Toulouse territory – Picamoles with the tackle. Three changes for Leinster – Boss on for Reddan, Van der Merwe on for Healy, Jennings on for McLaughlin – and Van der Merwe makes his mark immediately, destroying the Toulouse scrum.

48 min: PENALTY Leinster 19-20 Toulouse Horgan with a fine tack from the restart. Leinster come forward in waves but the referee eventually calls them back for the penalty. Sexton from out left but he threads it through – one point in it.

42 min: O’Driscoll has four more minutes in the bin as Skrela gets the second half under way. Toulouse look to exploit the extra man, Heymans with some sweet skills, swerving one way before switching the chip, but Clerc doesn’t get the benefit of the bounce.

37 min: PENALTY Leinster 13-13 Toulouse Contentious decision by the referee, although he may well have been right, O’Driscoll appeared to know what he was doing, as he usually does. Skrela levels things up with a three-pointer.

33 min: Fritz, with that low centre of gravity, gets past his man down the right flank before Servat goes on the drive. Hands in the ruck, penalty Leinster…

23 min: D’Arcy having a fine game so far, plenty of mongrel and plenty of half-breaks, but Toulouse’s defence is pretty solid out wide. Toulouse with a chance to swing it right but Picamoles over-complicates things and the move breaks down.

18 min: Fine pick-up from Sexton and he very nearly wriggles through. O’Brien wrestles his way through the Toulouse defence before Vincent Clerc brings the ball clear. Lovely hands all the way to Medard but Leinster smother their work, eventually…

15 min: PENALTY Leinster 6-10 Toulouse Toulouse pinged for I’m not sure what and Sexton makes no mistake again. Think that was hands on the ground, right old ding-dong…

12 min: DROP-GOAL Leinster 3-10 Toulouse … slow ball for Toulouse and Skrela pops over a drop-goal, simple as that…

10 min: PENALTY Leinster 3-7 Toulouse Lots of bemused faces behind the Leinster posts, but there was not much O’Driscoll could do about that, it’s these weird shaped balls. Leinster’s line-out creaking but here comes D’Arcy on the barrel, and now O’Driscoll scything through… penalty Leinster, bang in front of the posts, and Sexton makes no mistake.

1 min: Leinster kick-off through Jonny Sexton… he switches right-to-left and Horgan is underneath it – Leinster eventually win the throw-in. Toulouse steal through Nyanga and Skrela clears…

1528: Few tops off in the stands, although all that blue skin doesn’t go too well with what appears to be a slate grey sky. If Toulouse have a weakness, it could be at scrum-half, where the 20-year-old Jean-Marc Doussain, normally a fly-half, is called into action because of injuries. Here they come now…

1518: It’s the 2009 champions against the 2010 champions and the head-to-head reads: Leinster 3-5 Toulouse. Leinster are out for revenge after losing to Toulouse in last year’s semis. It could go berserk up front today: six Ireland internationals in the Leinster pack, William Servat, Jean Bouilhou and Patricio Albacete and Co up against them.

1515: Righto, fresh from writing the match report for a thrilling European Challenge Cup semi-final between Harlequins and Munster, here is me for what promises to be a humdinger of a clash between Leinster and French fancies Toulouse. Toulouse are appearing in their 10th Heineken Cup semi-final, the Irish side in their sixth.