Brennan exorcises ghosts

Three European Cup finals in three years. Did Trevor Brennan land on his feet or what when he moved to Toulouse? But the contrast between himself and his good mate Gareth Thomas was striking. Whereas the newer arrival was chuffed about the prospect of playing in his first Cup final, Brennan, like the rest of his team-mates, had a ghost to exorcise after last year's defeat to Wasps.

Indeed, the memory of that defeat and the knowledge that Leicester had almost as many Lions as Tigers proved every bit as motivational as Leicester's desire to do it for Johnno and Neil Back on their first trek to the 32,000-capacity Walkers Stadium.

"How many Lions did they have?" quipped Brennan. "All jokes aside, we were really lucky they didn't take their chances in the first half. They had three- and four-man overlaps on us and if the balls had went to hand it was a totally different game. We had a bit of luck today and sometimes that's what sport is all about. We just took our chances.

"Losing the final last year to Wasps was still fresh in guys' minds. There was a lot of talk about that during the week. Guys just didn't want to repeat that. Everybody talks about the French being bad travellers, but I personally was trying to talk them up in saying there were no excuses. We even had the weather today, typical French sunshine, and them having nine or 10 Lions was a great incentive for a player like myself who missed out."

The treadmill never stops for the front-rank French outfits, and next Saturday Toulouse must travel to Paris and a Parc des Princes sell-out for a French championship meeting with Stade Français, which is also a dress rehearsal for the Murrayfield final on May 22nd. But Brennan is glad the final is in a neutral country.

Guy Noves ventured, proudly, that his players were "true to the valour of Toulouse", a point Gareth Thomas also identified in expressing what he felt was the reason Toulouse defied the odds.

Frederic Michalak, the pin-up boy of this team and stand-in captain for the absent Fabien Pelous, said: "It is a huge honour to have been captain of Stade (Toulousain) for a day, but yet I do not feel like the real captain. There are so many personalities in the team that have the ability to talk and I am just one of them. I am proud of all the staff today."

"They're a very, very good team and there's no disgrace in losing to them, but in saying that we could have got ourselves into a position to win the game," said Leicester captain Martin Johnson in reflecting on the tries they conceded and the chances they failed to convert.

"It was an opportunity lost, simple as that."