Leo Cullen wouldn't swap Jamison Gibson-Park for Antoine Dupont

Leinster's head coach Leo Cullen

Leo Cullen insists he wouldn’t swap Jamison Gibson-Park for Antoine Dupont after the Ireland scrum-half’s sensational performance for Leinster in their Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final defeat of Leicester Tigers on Saturday evening.

The Irish province produced a dominant first-half and a gritty defensive effort after the interval to claim a 23-14 win in the English East Midlands and set up a semi-final meeting at the Aviva Stadium next week with Dupont’s reigning champions Toulouse.

It’s a mouth-watering prospect on many levels, with the French giants looking to extend their record of titles to six and Leinster hoping to get level with them on five and Dupont will be central to whatever happens.

Currently the reigning world player of the year, the little French general has produced a string of exceptional performances for club and country and he was prominent again this weekend as Toulouse edged Munster in a stunning quarter-final penalty kick contest.

But Gibson-Park has emerged as an absolute cornerstone of Andy Farrell’s Ireland side in recent times and he has now usurped Luke McGrath as the starting nine for Leinster to boot after a number of seasons where he played a sort of second fiddle role in the biggest ties.

The Kiwi native injected a pace and unpredictability into Leinster’s game at Mattioli Woods Welford Road in their last eight tie that regularly shifted the momentum back in the visitor’s favour. He also produced a superb jackal to frustrate the Tigers at one point.

Cullen mentioned Dupont’s influence on Toulouse after the game and was subsequently asked straight out if he would consider a swap between Gibson-Park and the man who has turned so many heads around the world in recent years.

“No, I'm very happy with our guys that we have,” he laughed. “A lot of that Toulouse squad have won a Grand Slam with France. A lot of our Irish guys involved today will have played against France in the Six Nations over in Paris. It's great for our guys to go up against their quality.

“Jamison was excellent today. There was lots of variety to his game. He has a strong kicking game but also the ability to snipe. He made some really good breaks today. When he's in the backfield he's so comfortable in terms of open spaces. He had a really good game against a couple of very experienced half-backs.” A Munster-Leinster semi-final would have been an incredible occasion in its own right had Johann van Graan’s side come through their game against the Top 14 side in Dublin but Cullen is clearly energised by the chance to meet Toulouse in the last four.

“Toulouse look incredibly dangerous,” he said after seeing mere snippets of their win against Munster. “Their half-backs are two of the best players in the world at the moment. They have a big, powerful pack as well who get them on the front foot.

“They're a very dangerous team and it's an unbelievable challenge for our guys but that's what we want. It's a huge week ahead. Hopefully we'll get a big crowd at the Aviva and we'll need every bit of energy we can get from that.”