A Bryan Habana try in extra-time guided Toulon to a 25-20 win over Leinster in their European Champions Cup semi-final in Marseille on Sunday.
With the match balanced on a knife-edge, Habana's intercept try handed 14-man Toulon the lead and the buffer they needed to hold off a late Leinster onslaught and book a place in their third successive European final.
The two sides couldn't be separated during regular time, with Leigh Halfpenny and Ian Madigan kicking four penalties apiece as the match finished 12-12 after 80 minutes.
However, the outcome of the match looked to have been altered when Ali Williams saw yellow for playing Devin Toner midway through the first half of extra-time.
Despite being a man down, the defending European champions showed all their pedigree to score 10 points while down to 14 men.
Leinster responded with a try of their own through Sean O'Brien, but Toulon managed the match superbly in the dying minutes to secure a deserved victory.
They will now face Clermont in the final on 2 May at Twickenham.
Toulon – Try: Bryan Habana. Conversion: Leigh Halfpenny. Penalties: Halfpenny (6).
Leinster – Try: Sean O'Brien. Penalties: Ian Madigan (5).
Toulon – 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Delon Armitage, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Chris Masoe, 7 Juan Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Juan Smith, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Carl Hayman (c), 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Xavier Chiocci.
Subs: 16 Jean-Charles Orioli, 17 Alexandre Menini, 18 Levan Chilachava, 19 Steffon Armitage, 20 Drew Mitchell, 21 Rudi Wulf, 22 Michael Claassens, 23 Jocelino Suta.
Leinster – 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Ben Te'o, 12 Ian Madigan, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Jamie Heaslip (c), 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Jordi Murphy, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Cian Healy.
Subs: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Martin Moore, 19 Ben Marshall, 20 Dominic Ryan, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Gordon D'Arcy, 23 Zane Kirchner.
Photo: Bertrand Langlois/AFP Photo
