Leo Cullen: Toulouse are the standard bearers of the Champions Cup

FINAL COUNTDOWN: Leo Cullen wants his Leinster team to present the best version of themselves when they face European “standard bearers” Toulouse in the Champions Cup final at Tottenham Hotspur later this month. Pic Credit: Ben Brady, Inpho.

Leo Cullen wants his Leinster team to present the best version of themselves when they face European “standard bearers” Toulouse in the Champions Cup final at Tottenham Hotspur later this month.

The Leinster head coach on Sunday discovered who will stand between his side and a fifth title in London on May 25 when Toulouse saw off a valiant Harlequins fightback from a 31-12 half-time deficit to book their ticket with a 38-26 victory in their home city.

Leinster had survived a similar second-half scare against Northampton Saints at a sold-out Croke Park 24 hours earlier, eventually progressing to a third consecutive final with a 20-17 win over the English Premiership leaders having led 20-3 on 43 minutes.

Whichever side prevailed at Le Stadium on Sunday, Cullen was bracing for difficult opposition.

“You’re up against top teams now so whatever teams you face, it’s going to be a serious challenge,” Cullen said.

“For us, we just need to focus on ourselves and how we improve over the next few weeks and there’s lots of areas we can improve upon so making sure the players have the right mentality in who they attack training and go after improvements and hopefully that will lead to a positive performances.

“But it’s a final. It’s on the day. So, making sure that we are the best versions of ourselves.

“Toulouse are the standard bearers of the competition really. Going back to the start of the competition, they were the ones out of the blocks first in terms of professionalism and you could see the set-up they had when the game went professional first.

“They were light years ahead of us, let’s be honest. We sort of feel that we’ve been chasing them ever since.”

Since their fourth and most recent Champions Cup title in 2018, Leinster have seen Toulouse lead the way in claiming a record fifth star at Twickenham in 2021 and have fallen short in back-to-back finals to La Rochelle.

Cullen will be hoping to have injured Ireland backline duo Garry Ringrose and Hugo Keenan back before the squad travels to north London with the former, his co-captain and outside centre having a special reason to make the final squad.

“Ringer is a Spurs fan,” Cullen said.

“My old man is a Spurs fan as well. It’s an amazing stadium there so it will be a great occasion hopefully.”