Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

I'm confident because I don't let emotions get in the way of facts. It wont easy and if Leinster are off it they could get beat but the reality is Toulouse havent been amazing this year and they too have their injury concerns. Ive seen Leinster in this situation too many times and seen them come out the other side far, far more often than not to the point that ive just stopped worrying as its a waste of my time. The reality is the 23 they've picked is still more than good enough to win and if they dont it will be because they didnt play well enough more than the losses they have.

I think oppositely, Leinster ,provided they show up, will win with a bit to spare. Not a blow out but a solid hold Toulouse at arms reach sort of result.

People keep talking about La Rochelle's power but its far more than that. They just have a great all round pack, they have a big pack but then have a great tackle threat, great around the park. They just have it all and because of that I think they'll be a massive threat if Leinster get to the final and feel if anything that's the game that could go either way but in Dublin you would still have to back Leinster.

Toulouse and in particular Dupont are in far better form than last year. We need to keep the ball in play as much as possible. Something Barnes might help with, however the weather might not. I have a feeling this will be a nerve jangling afternoon for Leinster fans. Im hoping we have more than a one score advantage going into the last 10 minutes. Not sure my heart will take the stress otherwise.

I would. That's a rough aggregate score in this fixture from previous encounters and I have seen little from Toulouse in Europe this season to make me think this will be any different to the previous encounters. Simply put Leinster are still the better side, fitter side, stronger bench, better form, home advantage, psychological advantage...based on all that afew players being out my alter the margin of victory but I still see a 10-15 gap being the difference between the sides at the moment.

Yes. Because they have actually proven they know exactly how to beat this Leinster side, Toulouse have yet to do that. Please dont tell me you are falling into the trap of using the top14 as any sort of indication of how sides will perform in Europe.

A last minute try is better than losing by 23 points though isn't it?

Their top14 performances may have improved alot (on paper at least, obviously I havent watched all their top14 matches so cant say im an expert) but their CC performances certainly haven't, there maybe has been some improvement but certainly not enough to suggest they can come to Dublin and win. The difference is La Rochelle have shown they can step up to Leinster when it counts and Toulouse have shown that they simply cant. Being able to put away average sides doesnt really mean much in this company, playing Leinster in Dublin is a whole other ball game.