EUROPEAN CUP FINAL/Leicester 15 Munster 9: After the last three years there's a compelling argument for claiming Munster deserved better. On the day there could be less complaints. For all Munster's passion, Leicester had a bit more composure, were a bit more streetwise and certainly had more of a cutting edge. Great occasion, deafening noise levels, excruciating tension and Munster gave it their all but, damn it, Leicester just about deserved it.
Munster will rue some missed chances and some decisions that went against them, but most of all they'll regret not playing as well as they could have done. Leicester weren't actually as good as Munster expected them to be. The problem was, neither were they themselves.
The root of the problem, again, was the lineout. It's been the malaise of the Irish season. It would be wrong or unfair to apportion the blame to Frankie Sheahan's throwing, even if it is becoming his Achilles' heel in pressure games and undermining some great work he's doing around the pitch.
Within the squad, they'll take collective responsibility. Mick Galwey might have taken more on himself, and they probably needn't have over-complicated the calls so much. But the pressure Leicester exerted was awesome, Ben Kay and/or Martin Johnson competing at every throw better than any of Munster's opponents all season. You have to say "hats off".
Munster, to their credit, actually pilfered three of Leicester's throws but they could ill-afford to cough up eight of their own. They scarcely had a platform to attack, especially in the first-half. And mostly they had to adopt the sort of tricks undersized schoolboy sides have to resort to, such as a couple deflected back to the hooker from the front, or one throw long to, of all people, Ronan O'Gara on the burst. That was hardly planned but told of the pressure they were under.
What attacking relief there was mostly came from David Wallace. Making meals out of morsels, Wallace showed there's no better ball-carrying forward in Irish rugby, save for Keith Wood and perhaps Victor Costello. He was used as a number eight off the back of the scrum or as a target runner. Not only making yards when none seemed on, he tackled big and his all-round effectiveness was typified by the steal he made off a long Leicester throw to Martin Johnson.
Allowing for his form tapering off in the Six Nations, why he's not going to New Zealand is mystifying. Even if he's not to remain an out-and-out openside, such a talent can surely be used from number six or number eight, where occasionally Munster employed him here.
With Leicester themselves struggling to cash in on their possession, save for Stimpson putting Geordan Murphy over after a passage that originated from another stolen Munster throw, the game reached a sort of stalemate in the second quarter which was epitomised by one passage nearing half-time.
Compelled to go for a three-man lineout, even then Peter Clohessy had to scramble for Paul O'Connell's deflection and set up scrappy ball. All they could do with this was launch Rob Henderson at an over-congested midfield. The ball was invariably slow, and so O'Gara found touch off the recycle, whereupon Leicester won their own throw and cleared their lines.
The gameplan was clearly to kick for position in the first-half, to make Leicester turn and put them under the kind of pressure they like to apply, but the inevitability of Leicester retaining their own throw undermined this. So while Leicester had much of the ball, Munster had more of the territory.
O'Gara shouldn't be too hard on himself when reflecting on the two missed penalties in the final quarter which might have subsequently enabled him to take the game into extra-time from one of the kickable penalties Munster were obliged to run late on.
That he would have had to land five out of five or six just to keep Munster level shows the tiny margin for error his team gave him over 80 minutes. He had played sublimely up until his first miss, his tactical kicking, handling and running augmented by his first three penalties.
The third, from 50 metres or more, had improbably taken Munster into a 9-5 lead. At that juncture they and their Red Army seemed to have more passion and desire for the occasion. Stimpson, being altogether too cool, gave a counter-attacking pass to an isolated Jamie Hamilton which came with a red cross on it. Sure enough, Alan Quinlan's invited hit ended Hamilton's game.
A turning point was the relieving penalty Joel Jutge gave Leicester against Sheahan for not releasing when Munster were in the ascendancy and pressing home their advantage. Jutge seemed to allow Leicester some liberties at the breakdown, especially in tacklers not rolling away, and a torrent of penalties to the Tigers then swung the game their way - irretrievably as it turned out. Such is his genius that Austin Healey, atoning for a relatively undistinguished game, slipped through O'Gara's tackle for the match-winning try.
But it was as much a reward for the intense pressure being exerted by the Leicester line-out maul and Johnson's bold decisions to go for a possible seven points rather than the three which was twice available. Galwey tellingly never really had such an option.
A raft of Munster substitutions changed the tempo of the game. It must be tough having bit parts when replacing a legend such as Clohessy, and in his eagerness to make an impact Marcus Horan's handling on the deck allowed Stimpson to give Leicester crucial breathing space, and so O'Gara's subsequent miss meant that Munster had to score a try.
It was only in the last ten minutes that Munster really sought width and tempo in their game. The utilisation of two inside centres in midfield has probably curtailed Munster's potency out wide and there's no doubt that the introduction of Mike Mullins, especially, and to a degree Jeremy Staunton added real pace and penetration.
After the well-executed miss-move and employment of dummy runners which saw Mullins make a searing outside break, Munster have no quibbles about the video verdict on John O'Neill's touchdown. Both then, and when Staunton saw a glimmer of light along the left touchline, the Leicester cover did its job.
All along, Leicester had done enough to complete the job. Four English titles in a row, and now historic back-to-back Heineken Cups. You've really got to hand it to them. Whatever it takes, they're the best.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 7 mins - O'Gara pen 0-3; 21 - O'Gara pen 6-0; 26 - Murphy try 5-6; (half-time 5-6); 49 - O'Gara pen 9-5; 59 - Healey try, Stimpson con 12-9; 69 - Stimpson pen 15-9.
LEICESTER: T Stimpson; G Murphy, O Smith, R Kafer, F Tuilagi; A Healey, J Hamilton; G Rowntree, D West, D Garforth, M Johnson (capt), B Kay, L Moody, M Corry, N Back. Replacements - H Ellis for Hamilton (52 mins), P Freshwater for Garforth (74 mins), G Gelderbloom for Smith (77 mins).
MUNSTER: D Crotty; J O'Neill, R Henderson, J Holland, J Kelly; R O'Gara, P Stringer; P Clohessy, F Sheahan, J Hayes, M Galwey (capt), P O'Connell, A Quinlan, A Foley, D Wallace. Replacements (temp) - J Blaney for Sheahan (18-30 mins), J Williams for Foley (53 mins), M Horan for Clohessy (62 mins), M O'Driscoll for O'Connell (62 mins) J Staunton for Crotty (68 mins), M Mullins for Henderson (68 mins).
Referee: Joel Jutge (France)
