London Irish 15-21 Toulouse:  Three-times champions Toulouse secured their place in the Heineken Cup final after seeing off a spirited challenge from outsiders London Irish for a 21-15 victory at Twickenham today

London Irish, in the last four for the first time, were always in the game and were constantly dangerous on a baking day in south-west London.
   
However, the vastly experienced French side, despite missing several leading players through injury withstood the pressure and possessed just enough class to strike themselves at key moments.
   
Toulouse will face either 2006 champions Munster or London-based Saracens, who meet in Coventry tomorrow, in the May 24th final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. It will be the French side's fourth final appearance in the past six seasons.
   
After an early penalty apiece on the hottest day of the year in London, Irish grabbed the first try through winger Topsy Ojo, who bruised his way through two ineffective tackles.
   
Toulouse, who had started well before being pinned back, responded strongly with tries by Tongan centre Manu Ahotaelioa and hooker William Servat within seven minutes and reached halftime with a deserved 15-10 lead.
   
Soon after the restart, however, Irish hopes were raised again when Samoan wing Sailosi Tagicakibau matched his fellow wide man to break two tackles to score on the left.
   
The conversion was missed though and Toulouse settled and edged clear with two further Elissalde penalties after 49 and 51 minutes.
 
The two big London Irish wingers continued to look dangerous and it needed a desperate tackle by former All Black scrumhalf Byron Kelleher to prevent Ojo scoring a second try and spare Cedric Heymans the embarrassment of three badly missed tackles leading to three tries.
   
Toulouse seemed to settle for their lead and were content to hold their defensive line but it was a dangerous tactic against an exiles team who have showed their fitness with many late scores this season.
   
As the game moved into the final 10 minutes Shane Geraghty, in at outhalf for injured player-coach Mike Catt, produced a scything run but after beating three defenders he was eventually hauled down with the line in sight.
   
Though Irish continued to make all the running in the final stages Toulouse were rarely threatened again and, after the disappointment of failing to make the knockout stages last year, are now back in their more usual position.
   
"We had to dig deep, we've had a tough season so far and it really tested our squad today," Kelleher told Sky Sports. "It was a well-fought win.
   
"We've had a lot of injuries but the desire is there and the smell of winning is around the place. There was a lot of heart shown from this team and that's what it takes to win this competition."
   
The man of the match award was no consolation for Ojo, even though his impressive display should help promote him from the England Saxons to the senior squad in the near future.
   
"We are all bitterly disappointed, we played so much rugby and created so many opportunities it is so hard to take," he said.
   
"It's hard to put into words. They pinned us back well at times but we took the game to them.
   
"Not many teams get as many line breaks against Toulouse as we did today. We took them all the way and the game was there to be taken but we came up short."