No excuses for Leinster as stars align in Champions Cup

If Leinster could have hand-picked the scenario for a Heineken Champions Cup semi-final, almost every element of today's meeting with Toulouse is how Leo Cullen would have wanted it.

Their frustrations over the game that wasn't in Montpellier are now forgotten, and they have the home semi-final they craved.

They're pretty much at full strength, with James Ryan and Rónan Kelleher both marking their return from injury last week unscathed.

Their quarter-final against the Leicester Tigers went about as well as can be expected, coming out hot and virtually putting the game to bed inside the opening half, and although they lost the second 40 on paper they were never in danger of being reeled in by the Premiership leaders.

They're well rested too. Their typically good URC form allowed Cullen rest his frontline players for their recent trip to South Africa, and they looked fresh for the break at Welford Road, particularly in that opening quarter.

Meanwhile, their opponents Toulouse needed gruelling extra-time and penalties to see off Munster last week in Dublin, and also had to play a loaded team the week previous in their crucial Top 14 meeting with La Rochelle.

All signs point towards Leinster, but we've been down this road before.

Since they returned to prominence in 2017 under Cullen and Stuart Lancaster, Leinster have been expected to win.

After some mixed seasons of transition in the mid 2010s, their semi-final Champions Cup run in 2017 indicated they were back. And then they kicked on.

When they won the double in 2018, it was clear they were here to stay, and while they have consistently contended since then, a second European title for this generation has remained out of reach.

Sure, they have mopped up the titles domestically,