‘It was like winning a fight without throwing a punch’

Few stadiums in Europe sit in such spectacular surrounds as Toulon’s Stade Felix Mayol.

Palm trees flutter in the Mediterranean breeze just beyond the walls and the waters of the historic old port can be spied from the faded seats on the upper deck but Leinster were in a grim place when they visited the city in December of 2015.

Opening losses to Wasps, at the RDS, and to Bath at The Rec had left them clinging on to the hope that they could see off the reigning champions in their own back yard and keep alive their hopes of making the knockout stages.