O’gara lies in wait for Leinster in last-four showdown

LEINSTER will face La Rochelle in the Heineken Champions Cup semifinals.

The tie will take place on the weekend of April 30 to May 2.

The Irish province advanced to the last four after dethroning holders Exeter 34-24 at Sandy Park on Saturday and their prize is a challenging clash with the Top 14’s second-placed team.

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen said: “We had a shaky start, which we did in our last (European) quarter-final (against Saracens).

“But the players showed enormous composure, and it was a great squad effort to get there today. Ross Byrne was so composed all the way through – he steered us around the field – and was excellent after he went on.”

La Rochelle, who are coached by Munster great Ronan O’gara, overwhelmed Sale 45-21 at the Stade Marcel Deflandre to secure their place in the last four of the competition and help ensure there was no English representation.

The second semi-final sees Toulouse taken on Bordeaux-begles, with the countries and venues for the matches to be announced at a later date.

In the Challenge Cup semi-finals, Leicester meet Ulster and Bath take on Montpellier.

Welsh involvement in the competitions came to a startling end last week when all four regions were sent packing at the last-16 stage.

The Ospreys, Cardiff Blues and the Dragons all held leads before losing to Newcastle, London Irish and Northampton respectively.

But the most shocking result came when the Scarlets were steamrollered 57-14 on their own turf by Sale.

What adds to the alarm is that the sides who beat the Welsh regions were all defeated this weekend, a sure indicator that the form may not be that strong.