Leinster Crowned As Kings Of Europe

Heineken Cup Final
Leinster 19 Leicester Tigers 16

By Denis O'Brien

In a hectic finish to a legendary year for Irish rugby, Leinster came from behind English Champions Leicester Tigers to land the Heineken Cup last Saturday with a 70th minute penalty by fly-half, Jonathon Sexton which brought the men in blue their first European Cup win.

A horde of supporters, dressed in the blue of Leinster, had gathered at Murrayfield to cheer on their heroes who had already shown promise earlier in the year in the Magner's League.

However, they wanted to see their team land the big one and their first Heineken Cup title.

Standing in their way were twice winners and five time finalists Leicester, who were formidable opponents and over the 80 minutes, would prove just that. L

einster, after having had most of the possession for the majority of the first half, were not able to convert this to a comfortable advantage even though they led 9 points to three with 12 minutes left in the opening period.

Before that, Tigers' scrum-half and kicker, Julian Dupuy had missed a third-minute penalty effort. Geordan Murphy at full back for Leicester was rock solid and fielded everything that came his way.

An uncontrolled Garryowen by Leicester, led to good pressure from Leinster's backs and when the ball was fed to Brian O'Driscoll he put over a stylish drop-kick for the early lead.

By the eight minute Dupuy had the game all square on his second penalty conversion attempt but it was Leinster who were forcing the issue with good work particularly from the big Australian forward, Rocky Elsom.

Soon after a block down on Dupuy lead to a race for the line but Geordan Murphy got there first for the Tigers for a 22 drop-out.

Then young Sexton entered the fray when, showing all the hallmarks of a seasoned international, he put over a fantastic drop-kick from the half-way line. It was a brilliant effort and augurs well for the young man to follow in the footsteps of Ireland's Ronan O'Gara.

He then coolly converted a penalty to extend the lead to six points with Leinster on top.

Things then started to go downhill as Stan Wright got himself sin-binned for a professional foul and this gave the Tigers renewed impetus.

This brought a late flourish from the Tigers that saw their scrum half Julian Dupuy narrow the gap to just three points with a penalty conversion.

Then Leinster were rocked to the core when Ben Woods went over for a try which the scrum half, Dupuy duly converted to give the Tigers the lead for the first time in the game. Now Leinster found themselves in a hole and trailing by 13-9 after all their hard work in that opening 40 minutes.

A further penalty by Dupuy extended the lead to six early in the second half but his side then suffered a major setback when Geordan Murphy went off injured.

Then came the turning point of the game when the lion-hearted Jamie Heaslip went over for a try. Elsom had made the initial break and after several phases of pressure from Leinster, who else but O'Drsicoll would carry the ball forward to set up Heaslip for the five points.

Jonathon Sexton showed plenty of nerve to convert the two-pointer and now the sides were all square at 16-16.

With 20 minutes still remaining the title was there for the taking with potential costly match-losing mistakes ever-present company to the finish line.

Sexton missed a further penalty effort from distance short and right, but Leinster were playing well and were winning valuable possession at lineouts.

There was anxious moments when O'Driscoll hurt his elbow and switched from center to the wing but that didn't deter this great Irish player as soon after he popped up to make a break which led to a Leicester mistake when winger, Matt Smith went off his feet.

This gave Sexton another penalty chance a little closer to the posts out on the left hand side of the field.

The silence was palpable as he kicked right to left. The ball left his foot heading for the right hand post but at the last minute it sneaked through the posts and glory for the blues.

From here to the end, Leinster more than held their own and had the Tigers pinned on their own 10-meter line in the final minutes of play.

With time having elapsed, a blues kick into touch ended the contest bringing Leinster an historic first Heineken Cup victory.