'Ireland in blue' will provide stiffest test

PHIL Dowson and Leo Cullen first crossed paths in European action 10 seasons ago when Northampton did something they had never done before nor since: beating Leinster in Dublin.

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And a fat lot of good it did them. As reward for outpointing Ireland’s perennial No.1 contenders 18-9 on their big stage at The Aviva, the Saints might have thought themselves worthy of a place in the last eight. Instead all they got for their trouble was to be counted out of the knock-out stage.

At least this time they know the score, that the losing semi-finalist will suffer the same fate next Saturday on the biggest stage of all, Croke Park. That they sold out the cavernous shrine to Gaelic football within 36 hours of the 83,000 tickets going on sale speaks volumes for the dual box-office appeal of the undisputed leaders of their respective Leagues.

For the first of the Champions Cup semi-finals next weekend, Dowson and Cullen pull the strings as director of rugby and head coach respectively, a status neither would have envisaged 10 seasons ago stuck on a touchline bench making up the numbers.

Each appeared simultaneously with eight minutes left on the clock and the game in balance, Cullen to lock the Leinster scrum, Dowson to give the Saints back row a bit of oomph at a time when they were nursing the narrowest of leads.

His introduction coincided with the English challengers winning going away as they say in racing circles. Scrum-half Kahn Fotuali’i dropped a goal and Jamie Elliott scored a last-minute try to leave Leinster with nothing more than a trio of Ian Madigan penalties.