Leo Cullen expects fired up Toulouse in semi-final rematch

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen is braced for a backlash from Toulouse when the sides meet in tomorrow's Heineken Champions Cup semi-final at the Aviva Stadium (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).

It's just under 12 months since the tournament's most successful clubs met in Dublin at the same stage of the competition, with Leinster thrashing the five-time champions 40-17.

The circumstances of the rematch are considerably different to their meeting from last May. On that occasion, the French side came into the game off the back of a grueling quarter-final against Munster a week earlier at the Aviva, having gone through extra-time and a placekicking competition in one of the most memorable games in the history of the tournament.

There will be no such fatigue this year, with head coach Ugo Mola resting his frontline players for last week's Top14 defeat to Stade Francais, and Leinster boss Cullen says he expects a much different Toulouse side to return to Dublin on Saturday.

"Last year they played the 100 minutes [against Munster] and maybe the travel, there definitely is a little bit of that [fatigue]," Cullen said.

"I've heard some of their comments this week about that, maybe they got some things wrong around the selections leading into that game [v Leinster], or that sequence of games.

"There’s little subtleties to the dynamic but it’s on the day isn’t it? You need to be prepared to deal with whatever comes your away on any given day."

Like Leinster, Toulouse bring a 100% record into the semi-final, having swept Munster and Sale in the pool stage, before easing past the Bulls and Sharks in their two knockout games.

Against the Sharks they showed their ability to play both sides of the game, battling patiently in a physical first half