Leinster vs Toulouse

carla
delaney
DIRECTOR, BANK OF IRELAND AREA EAST
A very quick turnaround this week as Leinster face reigning
champions Toulouse in the Heineken Champions Cup semifinal
at the Aviva Stadium. This competition always offers a
unique challenge for Leo Cullen and his players, and now the
Boys in Blue go straight from toppling the team currently
atop the English Premiership to trying to overcome
Munster’s most recent conquerors.
It all makes for what promises to
be a brilliant match kicking off at
3pm!
To secure the quarter-final win over
Leicester at Welford Road took a huge
effort, winning away in Europe always
does. And to emerge victorious in such
a brilliant stadium packed with noisy
home supporters (not to mention the blue
hoards) made it all the sweeter.
We are proud in Bank of Ireland to
support the team on the pitch, but we are
also very proud of the Leinster supporters
in the stands. I want to recognise the effort
made by the volunteers from the OLSC to
get so many flags over to Leicester and to
have Welford Road turned so blue! The
scenes on arrival for the team bus were
pretty special, so well done to Bebhinn,
Alan, Dave and to everyone in the OLSC
that played their part in making the trip to
Welford Road so memorable.
To this weekend and the visit of Toulouse.
They may have broken Munster hearts
here in the Aviva last weekend, but we
hope that’s the end of their European
heart-breaking for this season!
Toulouse are a giant of European rugby
and put in another strong performance
to edge a victory against a hugely
motivated Munster team, who themselves
can be extremely proud of their quarterfinal
display. No doubt all Munster’s
focus will now be on the URC game back
here at the Aviva next week. But, for now,
Leinster’s focus is solely on the European
task at hand.
Away from the senior team it’s been
great to see such progress off the field
over the last few weeks, with a number
of competitions coming to a conclusion.
With Covid-19 continuing (thankfully!)
to recede from the general national
consciousness, we hope that this is the last
season of interruptions and that we can
get back to completing a full programme
of fixtures without any delays next season.
Finally, to Leo, Johnny and all the players,
the very best of luck today. Let’s hope we
can all enjoy one last away day to France
before the season is out!
Enjoy the game.
CD
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