Tigers Destroy The Irish Dream

Leinster-HEC05-QF
By Vicky_C
April 4 2005

Having reached the quarter finals of this year's Heineken Cup by the skin of their teeth, you have to wonder if somebody is trying to set up the perfect ending to a number of distinguished careers.

And certainly coming in to this match as number one seeds, Leinster must have wondered what they had done to deserve this particular draw. But, given that Leicester came into the match on the back of some dodgy form, the late withdrawal of Julian White, and the controversial selection of Sam Vesty at full back they must have felt that a win was more than possible. The Tigers showed their intent right from the start when they exploded out of the blocks, Lewis Moody chasing down and winning Goode's kick off. The ball was shipped out wide early and with Ellis driving the forwards on, the backs got into the game early with the move being spoiled by a dodgy pass which Lloyd couldn't take, and which ended up bouncing off Rowntree's chest. The first scrum showed that the Tigers weren't missing Julian White at all and they put the Leinster front row under pressure on their own put in. Leinster managed to clear but a quick throw in from Lloyd and Vesty resulted in a penalty for Leicester. Goode scuffed the kick but redeemed himself with a great touch find seconds later. Although former Tiger Eric Miller took the quick throw himself, the ball ended up with Martin Corry who rampaged through the Leinster defence and almost set up a scoring chance.
Leinster were rarely out of their own half and Leicester continued to probe through the forwards and the backs and eventually a second penalty came from almost in front of the posts. Goode converted his second attempt.
Shortly afterwards the Tigers conceded a penalty out of Holwell's range so Leinster elected to go for touch. Leinster built up a good attack, but Leicester's defence held firm. Leinster chose to spin the ball wide but Horgan's grubber was charged down by Goode and the ball eventually ended up out of play. Leinster continued to pressure, Holwell went for a drop goal which bounced off the post but the referee decided that there was a penalty offence, from which Holwell duly converted. Moody again showed his fearlessness, winning the restart. O'Driscoll was penalised for a late challenge on Ellis. The penalty was taken quickly, but Goode failed to find Lloyd on the cross field kick. Leicester tried to roll the maul from the resulting line out. Goode's drop goal attempt was charged down, but Gibson rescued and the ball eventually found Sam Vesty who as brought down about 5m short of the line, and the ball was turned over. Leicester continued to keep the pressure on, and both forwards and backs showed beautiful skill with both hands and kicking to force Leinster back towards their own line. Unbelievably, after 25 minutes the score remained at 3 all. Leicester were awarded a free kick and wisely chose to keep the pressure on in the scrum from which Ellis passed to Murphy who broke through and almost scored. Leicester continued to wind up the pressure through, Ellis, Smith & Moody, and the move ended up with Sam Vesty knocking on with the try line begging. By this time, Rowntree was giving Ricky Nebbitt a torrid time in the scrum and Leinster conceded more possession. Leicester turned down 2 kickable penalties in favour of going for touch. Chuter turned over by not throwing straight and Leinster managed to clear their lines. Eventually, more pressure resulted in Leicester gaining a third penalty which Goode elected to kick and at 33 minutes Leicester had established a 3-6 lead. Leinster were given an opportunity to level the scores 2 minutes later which Holwell again bounced off the posts. Goode hoofed upfield and Leicester nicked the resulting line out. After a quick build up, Bemand (who had temporarily replaced Ellis) found Ollie Smith, who didn't need the 3 men outside him and he ran in for a beautiful score. Goode added the conversion and the Tigers were suddenly 3-13 up. Leicester almost scored again through Smith and Murphy, and Leinster gave away a silly penalty when Goode was felled by a late challenge by Ciaran Potts. Monsieur Jutge decided that Potts needed 10 minutes rest and Goode duly converted and Leicester went in 3-16 up at half time. It should have been a lot more. The second half started with Leinster down to 14 men but Leicester failed to capitalise. Leinster began to slowly get some stability but some great tackling by Neil Back kept Leinster on their toes.
	Leicester again showed great skill going forward with some deft touches by both forwards and backs. However, more turnover ball allowed a brief respite for Leinster. But whenever Leinster looked like pressuring, the ball ended up with Goode who would return the ball some 40m back downfield and back to square one for Leinster.
Victor Costello entered the fray replacing Potts in the hope of being able to add some efficacy to the back row, which had been so effectively marshalled by Back and Moody. Leinster drove forward again but conceded possession when in an attacking position. Goode cleared again, and D'Arcy was brought on to try and add some sparkle to their back line. But O'Driscoll couldn't seem to do much and he was being bottled up so effectively by Gibson. Leinster tried to attack again and O'Driscoll was shepherded into touch by a marginally late but committed tackle from Lloyd. The referee ignored the cries from the crowd and the Sky commentary box for a yellow card. Holwell did add the 3 points and the score was 6-16. The restart was tapped down by Horgan, caught by Moody who offloaded beautifully to Gibson who charged in unopposed for a brilliant score. All of a sudden the score was 6-23 following Goode's conversion and Leinster were almost down and out.
Shane Jennings came on for Gleeson, but again Leicester charged forward. Vesty again broke the line and following a bit of aerial ping pong, Murphy pegged Leinster back deep into their own half.
D'Arcy kicked long trying to find touch, only to find Corry who ran straight back at him, flattening him in the process. Another penalty for Leicester quickly ensued and Goode obliged sending the score to 6-26. Another Leinster attack was quickly snuffed out, Tigers drove forward again and some sublime skill from Murphy almost resulted in another try. A high pass came back to Goode who snapped the ball down and around Shane Jennings for a quite brilliant drop goal. Leinster got back up into Leicester territory and after they managed to string some possession together the ball ended up with Shane Horgan who charged for the posts and somehow ended up with his hand and ball over the line but with Neil Back's hand underneath it. Monsieur Jutge went to the TMO for an opinion and what appeared to be a very doubtful try was given. It was only a consolation for Leinster and although Austin Healey made a very belated appearance, and Goode missed a final penalty, Leicester closed out the game for a stunning victory. MOTM is a very hard one to call. Really there were 15 MOTM's out on the pitch. We had a 5 man back row, Moody, Corry, Back, Gibson & Smith all played a huge part in the win. Gibson & Smith tackled their hearts out. Corry rampaged through the Leinster defence at will, and Back starved Leinster of ball all afternoon. I wanted to give MOTM to Backy for his work on the ground. But, after watching the match 3 times I eventually had to agree with Sky and give MOTM to Lewis Moody for his brilliance and fearlessness at the restarts and the offload to Gibson for the winning try. Leinster: G Dempsey, S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, F Contepomi (G D'Arcy 51), D Hickie, D Holwell, G Easterby, R Corrigan (capt),S Byrne, R Nebbett, M O'Kelly, L Cullen, C Potts (V Costello 48), K Gleeson (L Jennings 58), E Miller. Leicester: S Vesty (A Healey 75), G Murphy, O Smith, D Gibson, L Lloyd, A Goode, H Ellis (S Bemand 30-40), G Rowntree, G Chuter, D Morris, M Johnson (captain), L Deacon, L Moody, N Back, M Corry.