Lansdowne Road is the same on a match day no matter if it’s the old stadium with is banked terraces or the Aviva with its sweeping roof and Perspex outer shell. The atmosphere builds as fans from both sides pour out of the surrounding pubs on to the road itself. Different nationalities and languages mixing together down the tree lined road bathed in April sunshine passed the beautiful terraces of Lansdowne Road. The match kicked off a fan fair of cheering and song that is so customary at Leinster matches. Even if you don’t know the words at the start you will by the end with the help of the friendly and welcoming Irish fans. Toulouse kicked of the better team with a flurry of activity that put Leinster very much on the back foot. A quick Florian Fritz try and David Skvella conversion put Leinster in the doldrums. In true Leinster style they slowly crept back into it with some penalties from the boot of Sexton. A drop goal put Toulouse ahead but after much deliberation from referee Dave Perarson he finally awarded a try on thirty minutes to Jamie, who as always sent Leinster fans into rapturous song. Disaster struck on 35 mins when Irish Golden boy and my hero and idol, Brian O’Driscoll was sent to the bin to have a think about his actions. It was a decision widely deliberated amongst Leinster fans which meant the resulting penalty was not taken in customary respectful silence. A late Jonny Sexton penalty made for what was a nervous 16-13 half time lead for Toulouse. Leinster fans still debating O’Driscolls binning for coming in from the side were in confident buoyant mood. They began the second half with song but that was soon silenced with a Toulouse try and conversation which meant 4 points had been conceded with talisman O’Driscoll in the bin. A penalty on 48 brought Leinster back to within a point of Toulouse. The atmosphere was electric with a new sense of belief in the crowd (and a new song). O’Driscoll soon made up for his spell in the bin with an excellent try which was certainly celebrated by every Leinster fan in the ground with myself whooping like a banshee from the Gods that took the score to 29-20 to Leinster - they never looked back from this. The French top 14 leaders and four time Heineken Cup Champions looked decidedly lost and confused and lacked inspiration with a flurry of substations on the hour mark. This did seem to rally the French champions who had a period of sustained pressure between 70 and 73 minutes making the crowd glittery. I lost count of how many times I looked at the clock over the last 10 minutes with 5 minutes to go a late Toulouse penalty brought the score to 29-23 but the 50,073 fans needn’t have worried as Leinster finished with a flourish as Sexton slotted the final kick of the match to send the crowd into raptures and on to the final in Cardiff with a score of 32-29. As always the craic is phenomenal between Leinster fans and the French. As an English fan of Leinster and a lover of all things Irish the fans are welcoming and friendly and always happy to help and encourage you to sample the local delicacies in many of the surrounding pubs or bars within the ground, where festivities and songs continue well into the night, many sore heads in the morning.
