RUGBY ENGLISH PREMIERSHIP FINAL: Leicester 10 London Irish 9:A DOMESTIC and European double is now well within Leicester's reach. Of their three wins in eight finals since 2005 this came from comfortably their least impressive performance, but nobody will dwell on that minor detail when they read the history books.
Give the Tigers half a chance, as London Irish did on more than one occasion, and they grasp it as tenaciously as MPs defending second-home allowances.
It is something for Leinster to ponder ahead of Saturday’s Heineken Cup final with Leicester at Murrayfield, a showpiece event which will have to go some way to beat this impressively-staged occasion, which offered better value for all ages and was less pompous in atmosphere than the average Twickenham international.
As Leicester’s captain Geordan Murphy, and several of his colleagues admitted afterwards, however, there was very little euphoria in the winning dressingroom. This is not a club remotely inclined towards laurel-resting or chicken-counting.
Murphy, who deserved the man-of-the-match award simply for his unselfish act in stepping aside to allow the non-playing captain, Martin Corry, to hoist the trophy, may have been exaggerating slightly when he said his team would need to play “10 times better” to defeat Leinster in Edinburgh, but the implication was clear.
The Tigers will now be redoubling their efforts, starting this morning when their head coach, Richard Cockerill, plans to deliver a few home truths. He will insist that his team still has plenty in the tank.
Apart from anything else, Martin Castrogiovanni and Alesana Tuilagi are expected back from a stiff neck and suspension respectively. That is an injection of muscle to make any opponent wince.
The All Black centre Aaron Mauger’s season is over but Cockerill still has the likes of Corry and Lewis Moody if he feels the backrow needs shuffling to combat the considerable threat of Rocky Elsom, Jamie Heaslip and Shane Jennings.
Whatever he decides will be based purely on merit, as the water-carrying Corry has lately discovered.
“I have to keep my personal and professional opinions very separate,” said Cockerill.
“I’ve said to Martin, ‘My heart tells me to pick you because of what you have done for the club but my head tells me that it’s not the right thing to do’. He’d love to be playing but that’s life, sometimes.”
And who can argue with Cockerill when Jordan Crane keeps stealing the limelight on the big occasions?
In the Heineken Cup semi-final penalty shoot-out against the Cardiff Blues at the Millennium Stadium, it was the blond-rinsed number eight who delivered the coup de grace.
He did the same here, emerging from the sin-bin to score the game’s only try in the 62nd minute.
It required the video official to confirm the 22-year-old was not held as he reached out to touch the ball down – a rare instance of an extendable Crane operating at ankle height.
London Irish did their best to repair the damage but, for once, a last-quarter surge was beyond them.
Ultimately the Exiles lost out by the width of a goalpost, Peter Hewat having smacked a relatively simple penalty attempt against the left upright midway through the first half.
The normally sure-footed Australian also cost his side vital ground with a poor kick out of hand at a stage of the game when they were turning the screw, while the Exiles’ captain, Bob Casey, will forever regret not opting to take three points seconds before half-time, with Leicester’s scrum in a heap of trouble close to their own line.
In their sky-blue change jerseys the Tigers were a pale shadow of the team who took Bath by the scruff of the neck in the semi-final and as London Irish’s Mike Catt conceded afterwards, the grand final debutants lacked the street wisdom of opponents featuring in a fifth in a row.
Delon Armitage kicked two out of four penalty attempts to add to Hewat’s early drop-goal but the post-match note of defiance in the London Irish team huddle – “Get used to it, we’re coming back here next year and we’re going to win it” – could not entirely disguise a sense of an opportunity lost.
At least justice was done in one respect.
The once-maligned play-off format now has deeper roots, but old-timers like Murphy still struggle with the concept of finishing five points clear at the top after an eight-month marathon, only to end up empty-handed.
“It would have been a very bitter pill if we hadn’t won,” said the Ireland fullback.
“Maybe it sounds arrogant but I thought we were the best team throughout the year.”
There can be no arguments now.
LEICESTER: G Murphy, Hamilton, Erinle, Hipkiss, J. Murphy, Vesty, Dupuy, Ayerza, Chuter, White, Croft, Kay, Newby, Woods, Crane. Replacements: Smith for J Murphy (21), Kayser for Chuter (57 mins), Cole for White (75 mins), Moody for Woods (59 mins). Not used: L Deacon, Ellis, Varndell.
Sin bin:Crane (40 mins).
LONDON IRISH:Hewat, Thompstone, D. Armitage, Mapusua, Tagicakibau, Catt, Hodgson, Dermody, Coetzee, Skuse, Hudson, Casey, Danaher, S. Armitage, Hala'ufia. Replacements: Seveali'i for Hewat (63 mins), Homer for Thompstone (41 mins), Johnson for Dermody (72 mins), Buckland for Coetzee (72 mins), Corbisiero for Skuse (63 mins), Thorpe for Danaher (41 mins).
Not used:Richards.
Referee:Wayne Barnes (RFU).
