Rugby: Leinster - 20 Cardiff Blues - 17 Hard-earned wasn't the half of it. What seemed a relatively routine home win at 17-3 ahead toward the end of the first half became an almighty scrap after it was eroded by the interval.
A pulsating, frantic, edgy, helter-skelter scoreless second half followed until Brian O'Meara's nerveless 80th-minute penalty settled matters.
And with that the vast majority of a record attendance for a Heineken Cup pool game of 23,460 let out a collective "phew". Mightily relieved merely to obtain the four points - bonus territory never came into range - Leinster could reach the quarter-finals by tomorrow evening if Sale beat Biarritz without obtaining a bonus point themselves. A Biarritz win would leave everything up for grabs when Leinster head to the southwest of France next weekend.
Had Leinster pressed home their advantage when leading 14-3 with Cardiff down to 14 men, or then again at 17-3, it might never have come to such a dramatic ending. Their lineout went well, they monopolised possession and territory with their running game and ability to hit the rucks hard and in numbers, but they allowed a gamey Cardiff back into the game.
Leinster kept knocking, the dancing feet of Gordon D'Arcy and the strong running of Shane Horgan and the back row often leading the charge. The pack worked their socks off, none more so than Shane Byrne.
Leinster aren't playing particularly well, they missed late withdrawal Christian Warner though no more than Cardiff missed Iestyn Harris, but they dug deep and their desire ultimately got them there in the end.
Playing into a slight wind, and also playing to their strengths, Leinster were ill-inclined to kick in the first period. Stating their intentions by running back the kick-off through seven phases to half-way, they then scored off their next multi-phase attack.
It originated from a Malcolm O'Kelly steal on their own 22, Victor Costello broke away and found Eric Miller in support with the offload off the ground. It went through seven more phases across the pitch and back before Brian O'Meara and Shane Horgan probed the blind side for Matt Leek to score by the corner flag.
Cardiff responded with a Nick Robinson penalty but Leinster's lineout and their defence kept them in the ascendancy for O'Meara to land a procession of three penalties.
After Keith Gleeson, defensively excellent, forced a turnover with some muscular tackles, a fourth followed when another Miller rumble and superb offload off the deck, which was well supported by Costello, also led to Craig Quinnell, of all people, being binned for killing the ball. With the bulky one off, a more adventurous policy might have been to knock it into the corner and go for the seven-pointer.
Miller also departed with a recurrence of his troublesome shoulder and that was Cardiff's cue to up their intensity as Leinster switched off a little.
How they paid for it, conceding two tries off quick taps and their lead by the interval. In mitigation, when Jim Brownrigg supported Martyn Williams's quick tap to score one of those facile close-range tries, defenders have the option of being binned or conceding the score. There weren't enough on hand for the former to be an option.
Much of the territorial leverage they conceded was due to an inability to find touch, Girvan Dempsey ignoring the better-positioned, left-footed Brendan Burke on his inside when kicking up the right-hand line.
They were more alert in the fifth minute of injury time when Ryan Powell tapped, but after Craig Morgan was held up short, the returning Quinnell reached out for the line; Nick Robinson tapping over both conversions.
Matters didn't improve upon the resumption, Byrne overthrowing to Ben Gissing at the tail and Cardiff going through the phases for Tom Shanklin to beat Leek. Horgan just nabbed him from behind under the posts before Gleeson forced a knock-on with his hit on Robinson from the recycle as Cardiff looked certain to score.
Leinster upped their intensity again and, with O'Kelly stealing another lineout, pounded away. They huffed and puffed but didn't look like breaking through until a punishing bout of phases might have seen an increasingly desperate Cardiff concede another yellow card and/or a sin-binning when Horgan was checked after a chip through.
Leinster opted for a penalty to the corner, and McCullen also had a big rumble to within a metre of the line, but knock-ons by O'Meara and Costello relieved the pressure. Out of the blue, Cardiff broke out when Nick Walne blocked a grubber kick by Burke and hacked on, and as O'Meara dallied, Rhys Williams fumbled his attempted pick-up on the line when impeded by Burke.
Back came Leinster again. The referee was giving them nothing, either, despite Cardiff living offside. A poorly executed up-and-under by Powell virtually played half his team offside for not retreating from the 10-yard radius. O'Meara, to his credit banged over the 35-metre penalty. A poor Leek kick down Rhys Williams's throat invited Cardiff to have one last cut but a knock-on and crooked throw by Gareth Williams ended their hopes.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 3 mins: Leek try 5-0; 11: N Robinson pen 5-3; 14: O'Meara pen 8-3; 21: O'Meara pen 11-3; 26: O'Meara pen 14-3; 34: O'Meara pen 17-3; 39: Brownrigg try, N Robinson con 17-10; 40 (+ 5): Quinnell try, N Robinson con 17-17 (half-time 17-17); 80: O'Meara pen 20-17.
LEINSTER LIONS: G Dempsey; J McWeeney, G D'Arcy, S Horgan, B Burke; M Leek, B O'Meara; R Corrigan (capt), S Byrne, P Coyle, M O'Kelly, B Gissing, E Miller, V Costello, K Gleeson. Replacement: A McCullen for Miller (34 mins).
CARDIFF BLUES: R Williams; N Walne, J Robinson, T Shanklin, C Morgan; N Robinson, R Powell; J Yapp, G Williams, B Evans, C Quinnell, A Moore, J Brownrigg, N Thomas, M Williams (capt). Sin-binned: Quinnell (32-42 mins).
Referee: Tony Spreadbury (England).
