Leo Cullen relieved after Leinster 'dug in' to beat Northampton Saints

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen says his side were guilty of trying to sit on their lead in their Investec Champions Cup semi-final win over Northampton Saints, but believes the province deserve huge credit for how they "dug in there" to book their place in the decider.

Cullen's team remain on the hunt for a record-equaling fifth Champions Cup title, and will play either Toulouse or Harlequins at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium final later this month.

A sold-out crowd of 82,300 were left on the edge of their seats as Leinster's 20-3 lead early in the second half was whittled down to 20-17 in the final minutes, but the province held on to secure their place in the final for an eighth time.

"Listen, it was an amazing occasion, wasn't it?" Cullen said after the game.

"Certainly, we got 80 minutes of entertainment, a little bit too exciting maybe at the end, but credit to the players, I thought they dug in well.

"That's not just the Leinster players, but Northampton, you have to give them a huge amount of credit, they fought to the very end.

"We dug in there at the end and we're delighted to get into another final."

It looked like Leinster would stroll to another comfortable semi-final win when James Lowe finished off his hat-trick early in the second half, but despite Leinster's players being well-rested leading into the game, they seemed to struggle in the final 25 minutes, inviting Northampton onto them as George Hendy and Tom Seabrook scored tries to make it a one-score game.

And Cullen admits his side were guilty of letting the Saints back into he game.

"The score goes to what, 20-3 pretty early in the second half, and then I suppose there's a human nature part to it. You can try and sit and protect what you have. That can be the