Leo Cullen trying to keep a lid on the hype after Leinster reach another final

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen is determined to keep a lid on the hype surrounding his side after seeing off Toulouse at the Heineken Champions Cup’s semi-final stage for the second year running.

Determined to make up for last year’s final defeat to La Rochelle, the Irish province ruthlessly punished sin-binnings for Thomas Ramos and Rodrigue Neti with four tries in a comprehensive 41-22 victory at the Aviva Stadium.

Dan Sheehan squeezed in their fifth score with a superb 25-metre burst to the line, and with the May 20 decider to be held in Dublin, they have set up a possible rematch with La Rochelle, who face Exeter on Sunday.

Cullen said: “It’s great to be in a final now, and hopefully it’s going to be a special day.

“There will be a fair old demand for tickets, but this what we wanted all season. Everyone has worked their butts off to get to this point.

“It’s just trying to keep a lid on it now. There was a lot of hype after the semi-final against Toulouse last year and we didn’t deliver our best game in the final. That’s what we have to try and focus on.”

With Leinster’s back-line missing the injured trio of Jonathan Sexton, Robbie Henshaw and James Lowe, it was Jamison Gibson-Park who stepped up as the player-of-the-match. Ross Byrne kicked 16 points and captain James Ryan and Dan Sheehan also stood out.

“There was plenty of good stuff in the game,” added the Leinster boss, who is also plotting a way through the upcoming United Rugby Championship play-offs.

“When Ramos goes to the bin we get a couple of tries during that period, and I thought the guys were pretty clinical at important stages.

“The tries come in different ways. It’s pleasing because there’s a bit of variety in our game, and that’s a thing we’re trying to develop all the time.

“We’re delighted to be through, but it’s a semi-final, and that’s about eking through by even a point, and delivering a better performance in the final.”

While frustrated with his own team’s indiscipline, Toulouse head coach Ugo Mola was also critical of an apparent tip tackle by Andrew Porter on Juan Cruz Mallia which went unpunished before half-time.

Having led early on through a Pita Ahki try, the French giants – who trailed 27-14 at the break – were outgunned for most of the remainder of the game despite late tries in each half from Emmanuel Meafou and Jack Willis.

Mola said: “It was 28-0 to Leinster when it was 14 men against 15 and 22-13 to us when it was 15 against 15. If we had played 15 against 15 for the whole match it might have been different.

“We could have been in a position to get back into it. It (the Porter incident) could have been a turning point. We were just 13 points behind then. There are a lot of things which didn’t go in our favour.

“We could have played 15 against 14 but the foul was not mentioned. Wayne Barnes is a high level referee but, at that time, there was a wait for a potential try and this foul was not whistled.”