Leinster soar highest in bluest of blue days

HEINEKEN CUP FINAL Leicester 16 Leinster 19: THE NAYSAYERS have been silenced for good. This was Leinster's day. Rocky's day, Brian's day, Jonathan's day – and all those with a vested interest in the harp, from every foot-soldier in the Blue Army to all those who have played and toiled for the province and its clubs. This was the bluest of blue days.

And when they tell their grandchildren about it they can have the complete and utter sense of satisfaction of knowing they earned it.

Having beaten the reigning champions and new Magners League champions in the grandmother of all semi-finals, they beat the other two-time champions and newly-crowned English champions.

The team that played the better rugby deservedly won. If it may not always have been champagne rugby from the supposed champagne team, the bubbly would have tasted all the better for that.

You have to hand it to Leicester. They’re not Tigers for nothing. This illustrious club, in which winning medals is seemingly passed down through generations as if part of their DNA, have had better teams. But they’re as gritty, competitive, spoiling and nasty as any of their predecessors.

At times they’re hard to like, as when Martin Castrogiovanni patted Stanley Wright on the head as he made his way to the sin-bin; or Alesana Tuilagi, eh, checking on Shane Horgan’s well-being after running through him; or Craig Newby slapping a prone Jamie Heaslip on the back after his knock-on; or Julien Dupuy’s sledging, and so on. Why do referees allow this stuff?

But, playing their fourth knock-out match on consecutive weekends with a largely unchanged team, Leicester were put on the back foot of a ferociously full-on collision by the superior forward control and kicking games of Jonathan Sexton and Isa Nacewa, who outkicked their counterparts.

But when they cranked it up to punish Wright’s missed tackle on the excellent Dan Hipkiss and his ensuing yellow card with that 13-point salvo either side of the break – the championship minutes – they also threw down the gauntlet.

They made Leinster dig deeper than they’ve perhaps ever dug this season. Bernard Jackman, virtually from the off, Horgan (after that rumble by Tuilagi) and O’Driscoll, after landing heavily on his shoulder, and the blood-stained Rocky Elsom were obvious examples of those who played through the pain barrier.

And, while there were hardly any weak links in their chain, Leicester lacked truly outstanding players, men of the calibre of Elsom and O’Driscoll, who, fittingly, came up with the big plays that turned the game in their favour to earn the mantle of European champions.

It didn’t help Leicester’s cause that the classy Geordan Murphy soon departed with a hip injury, although it was his two kicks to the omnipresent Elsom which helped kickstart the comeback. From the second, Elsom rounded Tom Croft, dummied Tuilagi – see you later – and handed off George Chuter.

That 47th-minute rumble re-energised the team. From there the slightly new O’Driscoll model of this season, the experienced winner mixing pragmatism with brilliance, put in a perfectly weighted grubber toward the touchline, as he has done so often this season, but especially since the turn of the year. Gordon D’Arcy tackled Scott Hamilton.

Once again it was a bit like watching Ireland crank it up, utterly determined and sure of their belief in each other and themselves to go and win the match – whatever it took – except this time the kick was into one of the many throngs of blue flags.

The ensuing time-out for Murphy’s slow departure, the chants of “LEIN-ster”, were seminal moments. The psychic energy was flowing with them again.

Elsom (who else) took the lineout and on and on they went through the phases. Wright, paying back in full his earlier indiscretion, the outstanding Cian Healy, O’Driscoll, Shane Jennings, Elsom again, Wright again, O’Driscoll again and Sexton took it on.

As important as anything was the way the hard-working Horgan, Isa Nacewa, Fitzgerald and then Leo Cullen and Malcolm O’Kelly secured the ball. It was slow ball, but with a little help from the selfless Jennings, Jamie Heaslip ploughed through Ben Kay and Newby for the try. The force was with Leinster now, and somehow you knew they’d go on and win.

Teams have to get down and dirty to beat Leicester, it usually isn’t pretty, and again, the dirty work was as important as anything. Chris Whitaker and Wright contrived to wrestle turnover ball, some bloke called Elsom put them on the front foot and on Leinster went through another eight phases. O’Driscoll danced past Tuilagi and Sam Vesty, Matt Smith played the ball at the bottom of a ruck and Sexton sealed the deal, albeit with a penalty that was initially off course before curling inside the far post.

Cometh the hour, the boy rose to the challenge. Augmenting O’Driscoll’s drop goal with his own monster effort from half-way, and a 25th-minute penalty when Nigel Owens enforced the offside law for one of the few times in the game, Sexton’s enthusiasm and self-confidence fuelled the team throughout.

They just couldn’t pull away. Leicester’s midfield pushed up hard, forcing Leinster back inside. “Hands away green” could have been set to music. In that 10 minutes before half-time their intensity and organisation in defence was tested, but they regrouped and saw out the final quarter with an unrelenting effort, Healy stepping up out of the line to nail Marcos Ayerza.

Ultimately Leinster had to do hard yukka to get there, but so be it. European champions alright.

Scoring sequence: 7 mins: O'Driscoll drop goal 3-0; 9: Dupuy pen 3-3; 18: Sexton drop goal 6-3; 25: Sexton pen 9-3; 34: Dupuy pen 9-6; 39: Woods try, Dupuy con 9-13 (half-time 9-13); 43: Dupuy pen 9-16; 49: Heaslip try, Sexton con 16-16; 71: Sexton pen 19-16.

LEICESTER TIGERS: G Murphy (capt); S Hamilton, A Erinle, D Hipkiss, A Tuilagi; S Vesty, J Dupuy; M Ayerza, G Chuter, M Castrogiovanni, T Croft, B Kay, C Newby, B Woods, J Crane. Replacements: L Deacon for Crane (29 mins), M Smith for Murphy (47 mins), J White for Castrogiovanni (53 mins), B Kayser for Chuter (56 mins), L Moody for Woods (69 mins), H Ellis for Dupuy (75 mins). Not used: J Murphy.

LEINSTER: I Nacewa; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, L Fitzgerald; J Sexton, C Whitaker; C Healy, B Jackman, S Wright, L Cullen (capt), M O'Kelly, R Elsom, S Jennings, J Heaslip. Replacements: R McCormack for Jennings (36-43 mins) and for Healy (61-65 mins), J Fogarty for Jackman (56 mins), R Kearney for Fitzgerald (70 mins). Not used: D Toner, S O'Brien, S Keogh, G Dempsey. Sin binned: Wright (32-42 mins).

Referee: Nigel Owens(Wales).