Leinster may come close, but not close enough against Toulon

This may be the Rugby Champions Cup’s inaugural season, but the feeling this weekend, as the two semi-finals are contested on French soil, is one of familiarity, given the identities of the four clubs involved.

Clermont, Saracens and Toulon all made it this far 12 months ago, when the tournament was still known as the Heineken Cup, and even the presence of Leinster rather than Munster this time hardly makes for a seminal shift in the grand scheme of things.

Once again, therefore, we are left with one province flying the flag for Ireland and the PRO12 amidst three of the mega-clubs for whom the new competition and enlarged TV deal seemed to be tailor-made.