Leinster Rugby travel to London this weekend as they prepare to do battle against Stade Toulousain in the final of the Investec Champions Cup. Here's everything you need to know about Leinster v Toulouse.
The road to the final started for Leinster in pool D, where four wins from four, including three via a bonus point, which left the Boys in Blue with the number two seed heading into the knockout phase. Leo Cullen's men faced Leicester Tigers in the round of 16, beating them 36-22 in the Aviva Stadium. Leinster then faced La Rochelle in the quarter-finals, where they scored five tries to defeat Ronan O'Gara side 40-13, finally getting revenge following three knock-out defeats in three seasons.
A historic semi-final at a sold-out Croke Park followed for Leinster, as they faced Northampton Saints. A hat-trick of tries from James Lowe had the Boys in Blue up 20-3 just after half-time, but a late rally from the Saints gave Leinster a cause for concern towards the end. Ultimately, Leinster held on to win 20-17.
Leinster 20-3 Northampton
It’s a hat-trick for winger James Lowe Northampton Saints facing a huge uphill challenge to stay in the game
📺 Live on @rte2 and @RTEplayer https://t.co/b2OI4OoWVJ
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📻 @RTERadio1 @SatSportRTE #rterugby #LEIvNOR pic.twitter.com/YQ9apNnSBN— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) May 4, 2024
READ HERE: Cian Healy Reveals He Turned Down Big Money Offers To Stay At Leinster
For Toulouse, the road to London started in pool B, where four bonus point wins gave the French side the number one seed in the knockout phase. They started in the round of 16 as they meant to continue with a convincing 31-7 home win against fellow French side Racing 92. Ugo Mola's followed this up with a nine try demolition of Exeter Chiefs at the Ernest-Wallon, in a final score of 64-26.
In the semi-final at a sold-out Stadium de Toulouse, the Red and Black faced off against English side Harlequins. In a close back and forth affair, Toulouse led 31-26 with 15 minutes to go before Jack Walker was put into the sin-bin for Quins, eventual leading to a Juan Cruz Mallia try which sealed a 38-26 win for the home side.
Could that be it? 👀
A well-worked @StadeToulousain try finished by Juan Cruz Mallia to extend their lead 👏#TOUvHAR | #InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/ioHds49ugQ— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) May 5, 2024
In the United Rugby Championship this season, Leinster currently sit third in the table, while Toulouse are sitting in first place in the Top14.
This will be the first time the two most successful teams in European rugby will face off in it's showpiece fixture. Leinster currently have four Champions Cup wins (2009, 2011, 2012, 2018) while Toulouse have five wins (1996,2003,2005,2010,2021).
When is the Champions Cup final?
The Investec Champions Cup final between Leinster Rugby and Stade Toulousain is set to take place this Saturday May 25th at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London at 2:45pm
How to watch the Champions Cup final?
The match will be broadcast live on RTÉ2 with coverage starting from 2pm.
TNT Sports 1 will also be broadcasting the match with coverage there getting underway from 1:30pm.
Team News
Leo Cullen has made three changes to the Leinster side that beat Northampton in the semi-final last time out. Garry Ringrose and Jimmy O'Brien will miss out. Will Connors is set to start in the back-row in place of Josh van der Flier who is named on the bench. Hugo Keenan returns to Champions Cup action in place of Ciarán Frawley who starts on the bench, while Joe McCarthy replaces Ross Molony at lock.
Co-captain James Ryan is named in the replacements as Leinster elect for a 6:2 bench split.
📥 | 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠...
Here is the #LeinsterRugby squad to take on @StadeToulousain in tomorrow's @ChampionsCup Final.#LEIvTOU #FromTheGroundUp pic.twitter.com/eYGOzW8ZAE— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) May 24, 2024
Ugo Mola has named an unchanged starting XV from Toulouse's semi-final win over Harlequins, with scrum-half Antoine Dupont captaining the side. Joshua Brennan - son of Irish great Trevor Brennan - will start on the bench.
La compo de la finale 💫
J-1 ⌛🔴⚫@ChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/3SvrhbQNgF— Stade Toulousain (@StadeToulousain) May 24, 2024
