Emmanuel Meafou and Toulouse on revenge mission against Leinster

Emmanuel Meafou has warned that Toulouse have learned their lessons as they prepare for an Investec Champions Cup rematch with Leinster on Saturday.

The tournament's two most successful teams meet in the Champions Cup final this Saturday, as Leinster once again look to draw level with Toulouse's record of five titles, having been denied in the final by La Rochelle in each of the last two seasons.

Leo Cullen's side made light work of Toulouse in the semi-finals of 2022 and 2023, winning 40-17 and 41-22 at the Aviva Stadium, before coming up short in the decider.

Meafou says they owe the province a performance.

"We're definitely not the same players and same team," the second row says, reflecting on their semi-final defeats at the Aviva Stadium.

Toulouse, Leinster and La Rochelle have played out a fascinating triangle of power in recent seasons. Up until this year, La Rochelle consistently had Leinster's number, while losing multiple finals to Toulouse. Stade Toulousain, meanwhile, have always struggled against the province.

Ugo Mola's side beat Leinster when they met in France in the pool stage in October 2019, but have lost their last four meetings in Dublin, three of which have been European semi-finals.

Their 2022 semi-final hammering was partially blamed on their grueling win over Munster the week previous, with the pair having needed extra-time and a place-kicking competition to separate them. There were no such excuses when the French side returned to the Aviva 12 months later, and again shipped 40 points.

"I'm not sure [what went wrong], there was a bunch of stuff. Reviewing our games now, we've definitely sat down and said 'we haven't had a good game against Leinster'. Leinster's a quality team and we just weren't ready