IF there has been a better day in the history of Leinster rugby, no one could remember it. To come to the crucible of the kingpins of the Heineken Cup, and not only to win, but to destroy their opponents with a display of confidence, composure and ambition was simply beyond everyone's wildest dreams.

This passage to the semifinal of the competition was not without its initial bouts of apprehension, yet when Leinster found their feet, they were irresistible. Three second-half tries destroyed Toulouse's dream of a third success in four seasons, and well, just forget the scoreboard for a moment. As the golden boy Frederic Michalak was being booed off the pitch, the French side's substitutes at last found some gaps in a tiring Leinster defence and ran in a couple of late tries to leave a final scoreline that utterly fails to bear witness to this epic story.

Inspired by Felipe Contepomi, who also contributed a priceless 21 points from his cultured boot, and driven on by the extraordinary workrate of Keith Gleeson, this was Leinster delivering on a promise. They said they believed in themselves, and who can doubt them today?

If Toulouse came on with a series of early attacks, only Yannick Jauzion found the occasional inch of space with his powerful direct running.

Vincent Clerc appeared from the right wing in the fourth minute only to blow an overlap, but Leinster had drifted offside and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde opened the scoring.

Leinster had been penalised at the first scrum, and when referee Dave Pearson evened things up by pinging Toulouse at the second, Contepomi equalised with a superbly struck penalty. An exchange of penalties followed with Elissalde landing one and Contepomi finding the range with two more before the shadowboxing finished and the game exploded into life with a magnificent try from O'Driscoll.

If Cameron Jowitt's soaring line-out take and the astute inter-passing between Contepomi and Shane Horgan, who surged down the middle of the pitch, were admirable in themselves, it was O'Driscoll's sublime angle off Contepomi's short ball which took the breath away. The captain speared through the remnants of the Toulouse rearguard to stroll over between the posts, his out-half added the simple conversion to make it 16-6 after 25 minutes.

Without their international retinue, and without a meaningful match for the best part of 10 weeks, it was presumed that Leinster might struggle to scrape the rust away, but this was a score from a side which was suddenly looking comfortable in the Toulouse cauldron. Predictably, the French responded, but now their passing was strangely imprecise. With Gleeson to the fore, Leinster weren't content to simply make their tackles, Toulouse weren't knocked back time and again. Another exchange of penalties left Leinster 19-9 ahead at the break.

What followed was as Leinster had expected. Stung by their first-half misfire, Toulouse came out all guns blazing. It was all the visitors could do to withstand the onslaught as Elissalde translated the intense pressure into points with two more penalties while Michalak cut the deficit to just a single point 10 minutes into the half.

Just after Trevor Brennan's day ended, the balance shifted one more time. Whereas earlier, it was Leinster and O'Driscoll who had exploded, on this occasion it was Toulouse and Michalak who imploded. The out-half looked to have side-stepped his way out of trouble from a scrum in his own 22 only for the outstanding Gleeson to swoop for yet another vital tackle which forced Michalak into a blind pass straight to Jowitt who strolled over from 20 metres.

Realising they had lifted the siege for a moment, Leinster celebrated prematurely, but they clearly knew a lot more than both sets of supporters.

There was more to come, much more. First, the visionary Contepomi ran a ball out of his own 22 and when his pass found Denis Hickie, who was faced by the one-paced defence of Yannick Bru and Pelous, it was obvious something was on. Hickie found O'Driscoll in support and the centre returned the pass to give Hickie a run to the corner.

Leinster were within touching distance of their greatest every victory.

Then with just over 10 minutes, Leinster confidently applied the dagger to their opponents' heart. Girvan Dempsey and Horgan worked some space, and Toulouse's fragile mindset was there for all to see as Horgan brushed through the challenge of substitute Gregory Lamboley for his team's fourth try.

Contepomi landed his fifth penalty to open the gap to 20 points, and all that was left was Toulouse's despairing last effort. They had been beaten by a better team, and they knew it. Skipper Brian O'Driscoll could not contain his delight afterwards. "It was a great performance by the team. We don't worry about other sides, we know if we perform to our capabilities we will be very hard to beat.

"We also said we shouldn't be afraid to attack them. Dennis's [Hickie] try came from deep inside our own 22. It's great for our supporters who got behind us out there that they'll have another 80 minutes to look forward to in the semi-final."

SCORING SEQUENCE 4 mins Elissalde pen, 3-0; 7 mins Contepomi pen, 3-3; 10 mins Elissalde pen, 6-3; 15 mins Contepomi pen, 6-6;

18 mins Contepomi pen, 6-9; 24 mins O'Driscoll try, Contepomi con, 6-16; 30 mins Elissalde pen, 9-16; 35 mins Contepomi pen, 9-19; 42 mins Elissalde pen, 12-19; 47 mins Elissalde pen, 15-19;

50 mins Michalak drp gl, 18-19; 53 mins Jowitt try, Contepomi con, 18-26;

56 mins Elissalde pen, 21-26; 58 mins Hickie try, 21-31; 64 mins Horgan try, Contepomi con, 21-38; 67 mins Contepomi pen, 21-41; 73 mins Nyanga try, Elissalde con, 28-41; 79 mins Jauzion try, Elissalde con, 36-41 NEIL FRANCIS'S ANALYSIS PLUS PLAYER RATINGS, 34