HARLEQUiNS...27 MONTFERRAND...26: Jason Leonard's final act in a Harlequin jersey was among the most significant in his 14 years with the club. With 64 seconds left Montferrand, nursing a six-point lead by playing out time, worked possession at a ruck five yards from the Quins line, but the world's most-capped player flopped his 18st frame on the wrong side and stopped the ball emerging.
The action so incensed the Montferrand centre Raphael Chanal, who had been back on the field only seven minutes after a sin-bin stint, that he deposited two punches on the prop's face smack in front of Hugh Watkins, the touch judge.
A second yellow means red and Quins made the most of their reprieve by launching one final attack. From it they fashioned their best move of the match, George Harder and Ugo Monye creating space for Simon Keogh to split the defence and touch down under the posts, leaving Andy Dunne to kick the winning conversion.
Chanal's failure to channel his frustration turned victory into defeat and summed up Montferrand's day. Patently the more proficient side, they allowed Quins to stay in touch by acts of rank indiscipline and lack of concentration at crucial times, failings which allowed Leonard to cap his remarkable career on a high.
"We showed that when you have a team spirit like ours," he said, "you can overcome anything." By winning, Harlequins now qualify for next season's Heineken European Cup and ensured Leicester will play in Saturday's wild-card final.
But the Londoners need to beef up their front five if they are to make an impact in Europe. There were periods in the second half here in Reading when Montferrand seemed to be in permanent possession, only to be let down by their propensity for giving away penalties and making unforced errors.
The lead changed hands six times, with neither side ever more than a score ahead, but Montferrand should have imposed themselves from the outset when the outhalf Gerald Merceron, who by his actions seemed intent on explaining why the French club had signed the Wales number 10 Stephen Jones, ignored a two-man overlap and was enveloped by a grateful defence.
Harlequins kept the trophy in England for the fourth consecutive season but the disappointing crowd of little more than 13,000 contrasted with the 31,986 who watched Montferrand beat Bourgoin in the 1999 final in Lyon. The tournament's standing lies in its lure of Heineken Cup qualification but the size of the crowd indicates that the Parker Pen is not indelibly inked on the minds of supporters.
That is a pity because, from the quarter-finals on, it matches the competitiveness of its big brother and is a more meaningful route for Heineken Cup entry than wretched wild-card play-offs which reward losers.
"I always knew we had a chance because we have made a habit of finishing games strongly," said Quins' director of rugby Mark Evans, who introduced Leonard, in the 78th minute. Montferrand held the aces until the prop's flop.
MONTFERRAND: Floch (2 cons, 3 pens); Rougerie, Chanal, Marsh (capt), Kuzbik (Viars, 62); Merceron (drop goal), Mignoni (try); Soulette (Emmanuelli, 78), Azam (try), Attoub, Louw (Pearce, 51), Privat, Raynaud, Magne, Vermeulen (Audebert, 51).
HARLEQUINS: Duffy (try); Harder, Greenwood, Deane (Keogh, 57, try), Monye; Burke (4 pens, Dunne, 64, pen, con), Bemand; Worsley (Jones, 64), Fuga, Dawson (Leonard, 78), Miall, Evans (Davison, 71), Sanderson, Vos (capt), Diprose.
Referee: N Whitehouse (Wales).
