Munster - 30 Leinster - 6: Cometh the hour, almost, Ronan O'Gara lined up a tapped penalty into the corner. A huge roar went up from the red-bedecked South Terrace and much of the East Stand as well, accompanied by chants of "Mun-ster". Leading 16-6, they were going for the jugular. It was feeding time in the zoo again.
For three minutes they encamped on the Leinster line. First Federico Pucciariello was launched of the tail from another towering take by the towering Paul O'Connell. Anthony Foley then tapped off another penalty, O'Gara knocked another one into the corner. Again the lineout maul and a succession of close-in drives were repelled, even leading to a Munster knock-on and a huge, relieving touch-finder by Guy Easterby.
For once Munster were denied, but there was never much chance of them being denied over the 80 minutes, a feeling that had been enforced from almost an hour out. To Leinster's credit, they withstood the onslaught then, but Munster were just a compelling force, and this was probably their most complete performance of the season.
The accuracy and aggression of the Munster pack was simply awesome. It started with their darts, where Jerry Flannery will hardly have a more accurate day if he lives to be 180. O'Connell and co provided a procession of clean, two-handed lineout ball, either to suck the lifeblood out of the Leinster pack with ensuing drives or allow O'Gara, in a master class of controlled outhalf play, to pull the strings. Try as they might, Malcolm O'Kelly and Bryce Williams couldn't get near them.
By contrast, just as critically, they ate into the Leinster throw. Only a certain amount of blame can be attributed to young David Blaney. Hardly one Leinster target went to the air for one critical take by O'Connell, which led to another by Superman in the build-up to the breakthrough try.
So much of Leinster's game revolves around quick ball off the top, but one could scarcely recall three clean, quick, unimpeded takes by O'Kelly and Williams such was the pressure exerted by O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan with the help of that human JCB John Hayes and co.
And the aggression and accuracy didn't stop there. Setting targets close in, or occasionally going wide, Munster hit the tackle area hard and quickly to clear out the ruck ball. Leinster tried manfully to slow down or even interrupt the momentum, Brian O'Driscoll, particularly, along with Gordon D'Arcy and Keith Gleeson working like dervishes to force turnovers.
Leinster actually defended well for long stretches, hardly letting Trevor Halstead, O'Connell or any of the target runners free their hands and get the likes of David Wallace in behind them.
But it was a simply remorseless Munster effort, ensuring a far better supply of go-forward ball for O'Gara, and no less than the two hookers or big-name secondrows (Williams and Cameron Jowitt appeared utterly overcome by the intensity of the occasion and Munster's performance) the contrast in the displays of the two outhalves was the game's most abiding head-to-head.
Contepomi's problems in part emanated from what was going on in front of him. Leinster were hardly able to build through the phases until desperately injecting some width into their game in the last quarter. Tactically, aside from seeming to have a much clearer idea of what they were doing, Munster pulled off something of a coup by often installing Wallace in midfield to leave no daylight in the red line for the twinkletoed trio of Contepomi, D'Arcy and O'Driscoll to probe. But so often the ruck ball was ponderously slow in re-emerging, if it did at all.
There was a lack of hard yards from Leinster before launching their backs, and examples of what seemed a sometimes rudderless performance were two spurned three pointers for unproductive taps. No one ran harder at the thick red line than the gamy Jamie Heaslip, but he couldn't free his hands in the tackle, or when he did there were no support runners.
A frustrated Shane Horgan hardly saw the ball, O'Driscoll and D'Arcy were left to live off scraps and often ended up running laterally, and a unheralded Munster backline, despite losing first John Kelly and later his replacement, Rob Henderson, had the satisfaction of keeping Leinster's galacticos scoreless.
Despite an often thrilling, end- to-end, harum-scarum opening quarter, the writing was already on the wall from the moment Denis Leamy was driven over off an O'Connell take for O'Gara to augment an early penalty with the conversion for a 10-0 lead.
The tone had been set by O'Kelly dropping the opening kick-off, and O'Connell bouncing off three would-be tacklers in return off the next.
Leinster clearly sought to target Anthony Horgan, who showed superb mental strength in coming through with reputation restored, and opened their own account after Heaslip found Gleeson in support.
But the contrast in the kicking games of the two outhalves put Leinster under further pressure after O'Gara had restored the 10-point lead and there was a significant six-point swing when Contepomi was penalised for a scrap on the deck with Leamy.
"Relax," O'Driscoll could be heard to tell Contepomi for a second time over the referee link.
Leinster had a few promising kick-and-chases up their left wing for Denis Hickie, but Contepomi screwed a kickable penalty wide and a second crooked throw by Blaney at the start of the second half saw the momentum stay with Munster. The cost for Leinster would be three successive Munster scrums with four or five phases after each, effectively resulting in three minutes of exhausting, back-foot defending.
Contepomi having hit the upright with another penalty, Leinster survived the onslaught around the hour and they and fans alike were briefly revived by the introduction of Eric Miller and Contepomi tapping over a three-pointer.
Blaney overcooked a pass inside to Heaslip after Leinster applied some width. Pucciariello was binned. But more significantly, Contepomi missed the ensuing penalty.
Instead O'Gara handed off O'Kelly for a try, his triumphalist fist-waving and scaling of the advertising hoardings in celebration understandable after months of listening to how good his counterpart has been.
And an intercept try by Halstead, picking off Guy Easterby's pass to D'Arcy, ensured it was the biggest European Cup semi-final win in eight years.
Yes, it may have flattered them a little, as Declan Kidney admitted. But it's funny how good sides varnish dominant displays with late scores.
And there was no doubting who was the dominant force here. The bragging rights are theirs for a good while now.
Scoring sequence: 2 mins: O'Gara pen, 0-3; 8: Leamy try, O'Gara con, 0-10; 20: Contepomi pen, 3-10; 23: O'Gara pen, 3-13; 27: O'Gara pen, 3-16; (half-time 3-16); 69: Contepomi pen, 6-16; 77: O'Gara try, con 6-23; 80: Halstead try, O'Gara con, 6-30.
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, D Hickie; F Contepomi, G Easterby; R Corrigan, B Blaney, W Green; B Williams, M O'Kelly; C Jowitt, K Gleeson, J Heaslip. Replacements: E Miller for Jowitt (57 mins), R McCormack for Corrigan (69 mins). Not used: D Blaney, N Ronan, B O'Riordan, K Lewis, R Kearney.
MUNSTER: S Payne; A Horgan, J Kelly, T Halstead, I Dowling; R O'Gara, P Stringer; F Pucciariello, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell; D Leamy, D Wallace, A Foley (capt). Replacements: R Henderson for Kelly (14 mins), T O'Leary for Henderson (66 mins), F Roche for Foley (74 mins). Not used: D Fogarty, M O'Driscoll, S Keogh, J Manning. Sinbinned: Pucciariello (73 mins).
Referee: Joël Jutge (France)
