RUGBY: It will be remembered, sadly, for one of the cock-ups of all time. In truth, this season's Heineken European Cup and yesterday's throbbing final at Twickenham deserved a more fitting tail-end, decisive play, but after the biggest win in their history Wasps won't care a jot about that.
It seemed Toulouse had deservedly clawed their way back into the game and at 20-20 were going to get a shot at 20 minutes' extra time. But Robert Howley, the impish, Stan Laurel lookalike gamebreaker, had visions of an extraordinary match-winning play when gathering Frederic Michalak's ill-judged restart and arrowing a little grubber kick up the touchline.
On an on it hobbled, possibly brushing the touchline en route, and on and on Howley chased as the gifted Toulouse full back Clement Poitrenaud sought to shepherd it over the try-line and touch it down for another drop out. Fatally, he dallied, and Howley pounced for a score that gave a new meaning to the description of opportunistic match-winning try.
It was replayed for the benefit of the crowd, the television audience and, most pertinently, the television match official, Alan Lewis, and it will be replayed for many years to come - not least in poor Poitrenaud's head.
He was immediately consoled by team-mates Vincent Clerc and Cedric Desbrosse as well as, sportingly, by the victorious Stuart Abbott. But there were no words that could ease his unenviable pain at the end, as his captain, Fabien Pelous, admitted: "No, I haven't spoken to him. I think because of the disappointment it is better to leave these things for a while."
"Just a kick to nothing really," explained Howley himself. "It must have been Wasps' day. The longer it went on bouncing, the harder I kept chasing, and when he hesitated I took the opportunity."
The retired Welsh scrumhalf (though still a livewire contender for another Lions trip next summer) admitted there were doubts in his mind as well when Alain Rolland went upstairs to Lewis. "I was unsure, to be honest. Whether I had put downward pressure on the ball I was uncertain," he said, adding: "Every try is important, but I won't forget this one in a hurry. In fairness, we beat a very good side today in Toulouse."
His captain, Lawrence Dallaglio, recalled Trevor Leota's contentious match-winner against Munster when admitting: "The video referee has been very kind to us in this tournament because we scored a try to win the match in the last minute of the semi-final against Munster."
As with Munster, Toulouse had some genuine grounds for complaint, and Fabien Pelous smilingly accused Wasps of "clever cheating" when slowing down their ruck ball for one or two seconds, "because to a team like Toulouse that one or two seconds can make all the difference".
But the mutual respect after such an epic, full-on contest was the more abiding impression, and Guy Noves acknowledged "the better team won".
There were a host of big plays and huge performances. Toulouse's close-quarter ball handling and ability to pop the ball out of tackles were fit to grace any final, any time, anywhere. But the Wasps defensive coach and ex-rugby league legend Shaun Edwards summed it up succinctly when commenting: "We have a saying: offence sells tickets, and defence wins championships, and I think this was a case in point."
