Leinster and Perpignan booked the first two tickets to rugby's European Cup semi-finals on Saturday when they saw off Leicester and Toulon respectively.

Four Jonathan Sexton penalties and an Isa Nacewa try enabled Irish side Leinster to beat England's Leicester 17-10 at Landsdowne Road to book a final four showdown with Biarritz or Toulouse later this month.

In Barcelona, full-back Jerome Porical kicked 19 points as Perpignan powered their way past French rivals Toulon 29-25.

They next meet either English side Northampton or Ireland's Ulster, who play on Sunday, as the French side target their second final after finishing runners-up to Toulouse in 2003.

Leinster coach Joe Schmidt hailed a huge defensive effort from the 2009 European champions.

"There were a number of turning points in the game - it swung backwards and forwards," said Schmidt.

"Leicester were always playing catch-up, but massive respect for our defence. We held them out through multiple phases."

It was another blow for Leicester's England half-backs Toby Flood and Ben Youngs whose Six Nations Grand Slam hopes were ended in the same stadium just a few weeks ago.

Five-eighth Sexton, who kicked 14 points when Ireland defeated England, proved solid again.

Leicester's cause was also hampered when England lock Louis Deacon went off injured early. They replied with a late Rob Hawkins touchdown that Toby Flood converted to add to an earlier penalty.

Leicester's defeat leaves Northampton as the only English survivors in this season's competition, and ends their bid for a third European and domestic double after 2001 and 2002.

Perpignan, meanwhile, had trailed by five points going into the second half of their quarter-final clash but buoyed by the support of their regional Catalan fans did not disappoint the 55,000 crowd packed into the Olympic stadium.

"We fulfilled our dream of introducing rugby to Barcelona. There was a big investment by both sides. For that reason we had to win this match," said Perpignan coach Jacques Brunel.

Toulon led 11-6 at the break as a tense Perpignan where hit by the sin-binning of lock Guillaume Vilaceca after ten minutes.

Porical and Toulon's Wilkinson animated the first half, scoring two penalties each before former Wallaby George Smith touched down the first try just before the break after Nicolas Laharrague was slow kicking the ball into touch.

Perpignan came firing back in the second half, and despite being down to 14 men after the sin-binning of Robins Tchale-Watchou before the break they reduced the deficit to just two points following a Porical penalty with Adrien Plante touching down their first try after 51 minutes.

Porical converted for 16-11 as Perpignan took the lead for the first time of the game.

But their advantage was short lived as Toulon's South African captain Joe Van Niekert levelled proceedings with a try which Wilkinson converted 16-18.

Porical took advantage of Toulon indiscipline to add two more penalties before the key try by prop Perry Freshwater, converted by Porical.

Toulon fought all the way with Fabien Cibray adding a third try for his side in the final seconds which Wilkinson converted, but Toulon's fate had already been sealed.

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