Leinster's thin blue line proves impossible for Clermont to cross

Clermont 15 Leinster 19:HIGH OCTANE, high tempo, high drama and by the end Clermont's fans were in a state of high dudgeon. This pretty much had it all, and when Al Pacino memorably talked about inches in Any Given Sunday, he could have had this stupendous match in mind.

When Jonny Sexton’s 71st-minute penalty was ruled out by the TMO – touch judge Nigel Owens suggesting it went over the top of the post, with insufficient camera angles from behind the goal – it constituted his first miss and prevented Leinster from establishing the insurance of a seven-point lead.

Then when Clermont mounted two final assaults on the Leinster line, first Wesley Fofana lost control of the ball when reaching out for the line as he was tackled by Gordon D’Arcy – Fofana’s initial celebrations giving way to immediate Leinster relief when that decision, too, went to the TMO. Then deep into last play territory Seán O’Brien earned a penalty for holding on.

As for Wayne Barnes, we take it all back. He was under almost intolerable pressure throughout from a passionate Clermont crowd, who were a mix of Shakespearian and pantomime in outnumbering the vociferous Leinster army by almost 10 to one. The 32,397 attendance was a riotous sea of yellow tinged with blue. Yet the penalty count was 13-12 to Leinster.

Sheer bloody-mindedness and togetherness ultimately won this semi-final for Leinster, but heroes abounded on both sides. Leo Cullen and Brad Thorn, combined age 71, somehow were still going strong at the end; the backrow of O’Brien, Shane Jennings and Jamie Heaslip put in a mighty shift; Isaac Boss and Eoin Reddan contributed handsomely against their quick-firing counterpart Morgan Parra; Sexton oozed class; D’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll threw themselves into everything and Rob Kearney, sensational again and creator-in-chief of the decisive try, was the man of the match.

Clermont were hugely physical and canny, reducing the breakdown to a street fight. They disrupted Leinster’s set-piece and would probably have beaten any other team in Europe yesterday.

After a bright start, uneasy lay the crown for much of the first half. Leinster struggled for options in the lineout, where their erstwhile team-mate Nathan Hines appeared to be wise to plenty as well as performing admirably in the loose, and their scrum was also under pressure from a streetwise Clermont eight.

But Leinster regrouped at half-time, steadied their scrum and rectified, more or less, their lineout problems, striking stealthily to move ahead and using the wind to pin Clermont back until that dramatic denouement.

Helpfully for Leinster, after three weeks of intense rain hereabouts, the forecast showers didn’t materialise. In such a full-on encounter, the time-outs for injuries were almost welcome from the stands, never mind the pitch.

Such a game was always likely to favour Leinster more than Clermont, who may be wealthier but are also older and not as well conditioned – hence they were quicker to empty their bench.

Leinster began well, Boss sniping to good effect, Sexton also making one break, and their willingness to put width on the ball twice put Isa Nacewa away. Their reward was an opening penalty from Sexton, to a cacophony of booing, when Jamie Cudmore was in front of the hindmost foot. They were also full of physicality in defence, O’Driscoll putting in successive big tackles on Fofana and Lionel Faure, and then on Aurelien Rougerie.

The Clermont fans applied huge pressure on Barnes throughout. When the giant screen showed a replay of Leo Cullen punching Faure – not much of a punch, and Faure’s fall was a tad theatrical – les jaunards were enraged.

When Thorn was penalised for going off his feet, it was the third such infringement against Leinster and it enabled Brock James to draw the sides level.

Strauss had made one superb and trademark steal only to immediately undo his good work with the first of two crooked throws which cost Leinster attacking ball around the Clermont 22, and an overthrow put his team under further intense pressure as the home side whipped a heady cocktail of close-in drives and offloading – typified by Jean-Marcel Buttin’s one-handed around-the-corner offload out of two tackles to Fofana.

Indeed, such are their extravagant resources, losing Julien Malzieu and Lee Byrne virtually inside the first quarter didn’t discommode Clermont, with Rougerie returning to the right wing of his youth as Regan King came on in midfield.

Clermont began cranking up the intensity at scrum time too and James kicked them in front when Nacewa was pinged for a side entry. Sitiveni Sivivatu stupidly took out Nacewa for Sexton to level matters again but James punished Cian Healy, off his feet and in from the side, to put Clermont in front and when D’Arcy couldn’t gather Healy’s wild offload, a scrum penalty saw James make it 12-6 at the break. In many respects, Leinster had been authors of their own difficulties.

One source of optimism was the significant breeze which Leinster would have behind their backs, and soon it came into play. Immediately upon the resumption, a loose pass by Buttin gave Leinster a lineout, from which they showed what they could do when they actually won the ball. O’Driscoll straightened – as he does – and bounced off a big hit and the ground to carry another few inches – as he does. This time Strauss sniped and Kearney called for an inside ball which put him clean through, and he put the supporting Healy over.

Sexton landed the conversion, promptly found a monster touch, whereupon Kearney thumped over a drop goal which must have been 50 metres.

James and Sexton exchanged further penalties either side of Kearney coming close with a hard straight line when he might have passed to Luke Fitzgerald as Leinster turned the screw. O’Driscoll ripped the ball from Buttin, O’Brien made a clean line break, Julien Bardy spilled into Cullen’s paws and Sexton continually pinned them back.

The Leinster crowd could be heard more and more with their renditions of Allez les Bleus or Cockles and Mussels, but their side couldn’t press home their advantage before the final, nervejangling finale.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 8 mins: Sexton pen 0-3; 18: James pen 3-3; 32: James pen 6-3; 35: Sexton pen 6-6; 37: James pen 9-6; 40: James pen 12-6; (half-time 12-6); 42: Healy try, Sexton con 12-13; 47: Kearney drop goal 12-16; 53: James pen 15-16; 63: Sexton pen 15-19.

ASM CLERMONT AUVERGNE: L Byrne; S Sivivatu, A Rougerie (capt), W Fofana, J Malzieu; B James, M Parra; L Faure, B Kayser, D Zirakashvili, J Cudmore, N Hines, J Bonnaire, A Lapandry, E Vermeulen. Replacements: J-M Buttin for Malzieu (13 mins), R King for Byrne (22 mins), V Debaty for Faure (47 mins), J Bardy for Vermeulen (55 mins), J Pierre for Hines (57 mins), D Kotze for Zirakashvili (59 mins), T Paulo for Kayser (64 mins), Vermeulen for Bonnaire (70 mins). Not used: L Radoslavjevic.

LEINSTER: R Kearney; I Nacewa, B ODriscoll, G DArcy, L Fitzgerald; J Sexton, I Boss; C Healy, R Strauss, M Ross, L Cullen (capt), B Thorn, S OBrien, S Jennings, J Heaslip. Replacements: E Reddan for boss (53 mins), H Van der Merwe for Healy (63 mins), S Cronin for Strauss, K McLaughlin for Jennings, F McFadden for Fitzgerald (all 63 mins). Not used: N White, D Toner, I Madigan.

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England).