Champions Cup: Five takeaways from the semi-finals as Leinster crash French party

Three French teams and one Irish side remain in the 2022 Champions and Challenge Cup after a frenetic weekend of semi-finals in Europe.

Only Leinster can threaten the French domination of this year’s campaign as they put in the performance of the weekend to thrash the holders Toulouse 40-17 at a packed Aviva Stadium, with Johnny Sexton delivering a masterclass in fly-half control that belies his 36 years.

With La Rochelle spluttering and stuttering to beat an equally unimpressive Racing 92, the title is all but Leinster’s and the Yellow Army will have to take their game up a notch to get close to the total rugby of the Dubliners.

Elsewhere, Toulon’s disposal of Saracens will have rocked the Premiership giants, whilst Wasps have only themselves to blame as error after error compounded to see them lose in Lyon, where Leo Berdeu recorded 15 points for the hosts.

The two finals of this year’s EPCR Champions and Challenge Cup is a reflection of the strength of French and Irish rugby, and on the flip side, the continued decline of the British clubs, which must be a concern for all involved.

In 1972, the great coach Jim Greenwood wrote the finest coaching book in the history of rugby. Now in its 15th reiteration, Total Rugby is a blueprint for the way the game should be played – a fusion of power, pace and precision and a book that Stuart Lancaster regularly name checks.

50 years on, Leinster are delivering Greenwood’s vision in torrents of brilliant rugby. Props that throw out 30m passes, back-rowers with the pace and footwork of centres and backs that tackle like world-class opensides. They are the complete side and the only perceivable weakness is a marginal question mark over the scrummaging of their pack.

Best of all, for