Leicester 16 Leinster 19

In their first Heineken Cup Final appearance, Leinster capped a momentous year for Irish Rugby by lifting the premier prize in European elite club competition in a tremendous spectacle at Murrayfield Stadium this afternoon.

Urged on by a vociferous yet sportsmanlike crowd of 66,523, the representatives from the Magners League had just too much fizz for their English opponents and thus added the Heineken Cup to the Grand Slam and Magners League trophies that had already made it over the North Channel.

Predictably, Leinster’s belligerent bulldozer of a back-row forward, Rocky Elsom, was named man of the match, but their success wasn’t all done to their massive antipodean ball-carrier.

The poise was provided in large measures by their stand-off Jonathan Sexton.  Would the 23-year-old product of St Mary’s College have even graced the occasion had Argentina’s Felipe Contepomi been fit?   Probably not, but whether through his languid, right-foot, raking diagonal touch-finders, his goal kicks or his wide spread distribution, Sexton deserved major plaudits.

To be fair, Leicester did remarkably well to force their way back into a contest from which Leinster had threatened to detonate them in the cartoon manner of Acme explosives in the opening half hour.

Although Leicester scrum-half Julien Dupuy pushed a long-range penalty wide in the second minute, so much of the first-half territory belonged to the Irish province.

Centre Brian O’Driscoll got the scoreboard moving with a snap drop-goal in the sixth minute after Elsom had capitalised on Leicester spillage of a high kick.

Danny Hipkiss’ slashing break in response bequeathed a penalty success for Dupuy but it was all Leinster thereafter as lock Malcolm O’Kelly almost pounced from his own charge down of a Dupuy clearance kick in the aftermath of a lineout then Sexton – angle included – fired a cool-as-a-cucumber drop-goal from some 55 metres to give Leinster the lead at 6-3.

Elsom, like some stampeding Duracell wildebeest, charged again and O’Driscoll’s twinkling feet forced Leicester to concede an offside penalty and Sexton was on target for 9-3.

Tom Croft’s pace in pursuit of a kick-ahead after Hipkiss’ persistence had found an opening hinted at better things for Leicester and when Leinster prop Stand Wright was yellow-carded for an off the ball obstruction on Sam Vesty, Dupuy goaled the 32nd minute penalty.

Hipkiss’ direct running was the cue that Leicester needed and when the half-backs linked off loose ball, openside flanker Ben Woods rounded off matters with his own bit of assertiveness ploughing through three would-be tackles for a cracking opening try, Dupuy’s conversion guaranteeing Leicester a surprise interval lead of 13-9.

Within two minutes of the restart Dupuy’s trusty boot had extended that advantage to 16-9 with his third penalty.  Restored to numerical equality, Leinster replied with their own first try, Jamie Heaslip, bound for South Africa in the red of the British and Irish Lions tomorrow, did his bruising bit in the blue of Leinster first, barrelling over for the score after both O’Driscoll and Sexton had threatened on the right. Sexton’s conversion meant it was all square at 16-apiece.

Heaslip's thundering tackle on Hipkiss secured a penalty for Leinster but even though it was advanced 10-metres by Nigel Owens for some misdemeanour Sexton’s pot at goal did not have the legs.

We were into the last quarter now and when Leicester infringed 11 minutes from time Sexton did not err a second time and landed the decisive penalty and as Leicester got ever more frantic and error-prone as the game counted down to no-side so Leinster showed just how to close it out.

Immediately after the match Brian O’Driscoll declared: “It feels great. I've played for this team for 10 years, some of the guys for 11 or 12 years. I love Leinster. It was a goal to win this competition before the season started. I couldn't have asked to win this with a better bunch of guys."
Leicester: Geordan Murphy captain; Scott Hamilton, Ayoola Erinle, Dan Hipkiss, Alesana Tuilagi; Sam Vesty, Julien Dupuy; Marcos Ayerza, George Chuter, Martin Castrogiovanni, Tom Croft, Ben Kay, Craig Newby, Jordan Crane, Ben Woods. 

Subs: Louis Deacon for Crane (29 mins), Matt Smith for Murphy (47 mins), Julian White for Castrogiovanni (52 mins), Ben Kayser for Chuter (55 mins), Lewis Moody for Woods (60 mins), Harry Ellis for Dupuy (75 mins)

Leinster: Isa Nacewa; Shane Horgan, Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Luke Fitzgerald; Jonathan Sexton, Chris Whittaker; Cian Healy, Bernard Jackman, Stan Wright, Leo Cullen captain, Malcolm O’Kelly, Rocky Elsom, Jamie Heaslip, Shane Jennings.

Subs: Ronan McCormack for Jennings (35 mins), John Fogarty for Jackman (55 mins), Rob Kearney for Fitzgerald (71 mins).

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

Man of the Match: Rocky Elsom (Leinster)

Attendance: 66,523