Can Leinster be stopped?

Leinster sounded a massive warning to the rest of the United Rugby Championship pretenders when they blew away European Champions Cup defending champs Toulouse in the competition semifinals over the past weekend.

Toulouse were expected to give Leinster a stern test of their credentials, but were instead brushed aside 40-17, as the Irish side firmly announced themselves as favourites for the title.

The performance signalled an ominous warning to the URC hopefuls who are hoping to dethrone the competitions most decorated team.

With Leinster having already secured top spot on the log, sealing themselves home play-offs all the way to the final, they are expected to cotton wool their squad and send out a weakened team for their final pool game against Munster this coming weekend.

If Leinster do play and understrength team and if Munster can pick up a win that could see them secure second place on the log, it would be Leinster’s third successive loss in the competition after their understrength team was beaten by the Stormers and Sharks in their previous games.

However the full strength Leinster team is a completely different beast, as shown in their demolition of Toulouse, and with home ground advantage through to the final, it has to be asked who can stop then from claiming another title?

Leinster are the most successful team in the URC and all its iterations history, with eight titles, double the amount of the second most successful team Ospreys.

However it’s only been over the last few years that they have become the juggernaut they currently are, winning the last four titles in a row.

The SA teams will be hoping that they can bring something different to the table to try and topple the champs, however only the Bulls have faced a full strength Leinster team so far, and were beaten 31-3 in Ireland back in September.

The Lions then lost to a Leinster side without their Irish internationals who were on Six Nations duty, while the Sharks and Stormers had tight home wins.