'Very pleasing' - Caelan Doris reacts as Leinster book Croke Park semi

Leinster captain Caelan Doris reflected on “a great feeling” after his team stormed into the Investec Champions Cup semi-finals with a 40-13 victory over holders La Rochelle.

Leinster emphatically ended La Rochelle’s bid for a hat-trick of Champions Cup titles at the Aviva Stadium.

Ronan O’Gara’s team defeated Leinster in the last two finals by a combined margin of just four points, but their quest for silverware ended at the quarter-final stage this time around.

Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi on the next generation of stars at the Sharks

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Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi on the next generation of stars at the Sharks

Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi believes the Sharks are proving that they can build depth with the youngsters that they have in the system.

“It’s a great feeling,” Doris told TNT Sports. “We have massive respect for them as a group of players and a team.

“We’ve had some immense battles against them over the last number of years and it is very pleasing to finally put in a performance like that and get a result like that.”

Leinster marched on in pursuit of a record-equalling fifth tournament triumph, and their semi-final will be at Dublin’s 82,000-capacity Croke Park in early May.

Wing James Lowe (2), scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park, flanker Ryan Baird and hooker Dan Sheehan scored tries, while fly-half Ross Byrne kicked three conversions and three penalties as Leinster never looked in danger of suffering another loss to their fierce rivals.

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But the quality of their display was built on strong defensive foundations – and Gibson-Park running the show – as La Rochelle failed to score a second-half point.

Doris added: “I think it was a great defensive display.

“You saw some of the shots that went in on some of their key ball-carriers, who have given good go-forward for them over the last couple of years, so it went a long way towards that performance.

“Jamison is unbelievable. He is a joy to play with.

“He keeps the tempo so high and he is so unpredictable but plays within our plan at the same time. The boys are all about running lines off him.

“It is a very rare opportunity to play at Croke Park in front of our own fans. What an exciting prospect, and we are looking forward to it massively.”