Battle of Kiwi coaches in Heineken Cup

Joe Schmidt's come out on top in the battle of the Kiwi coaches in the Heineken Cup semifinal between Leinster and Vern Cotter's Clermont.

Defending champs Leinster trailed the French side 12-6 at halftime, before a try to Cian Healy and long range drop goal to Rob Kearney gave the Irish the ascendancy for a 19-15 win.

Schmidt says the key to their second half resurgence was a change in set piece.

"Our line out was struggling, they got a couple of penalties at scrum time and we really needed to make sure we shored up those two areas of the game to make sure that we could get the ball to get the kind of quality of play we wanted to try to produce."

Schmidt says Cotter was gracious in defeat.

"He said well done at the end of the game and he's really disappointed but they've got the top 14 to keep striving for and for us, we're going to try to glue ourselves back together."

Leinster have an all-Kiwi coaching team with Jono Gibbes and Greg Feek complimenting Schmidt.

Former All Blacks wing Sitiveni Sivivatu was in the Clermont side while Isa Nacewa and lock Brad Thorn lined up for the defending champions.

Leinster will meet Ulster in the tournament final next month.

Photo: Joe Schmidt (Getty Images)