European Cup final/ Wasps 25 Leicester 9: The future of the Heineken Cup is safe for the foreseeable future and so is Wasps' reputation for rising to the big occasion.

Not many outside their training base in Acton gave them much chance of sabotaging Leicester's attempt to become the first side in history to complete the treble but rarely has an underdog displayed such sharp teeth. No wonder the victorious captain Lawrence Dallaglio described it as the highlight of his club career.

In front of a record crowd for a club game of rugby union, this was also a day that again blurred the gap between international and top European rugby to the point of invisibility. As thunderous finales go it had almost everything save a rousing comeback in the final quarter.

For that it was impossible to blame Leicester, who gave everything in defeat. They simply found themselves facing a side who deliberately set out to rattle the Tigers' cage from beginning to end and neuter their big cats both up front and out wide.

Wasps' second European title in four seasons was a tactical masterpiece, a triumph of brain power as well as calculated brawn. Wasps may have been short of physical workouts in the three weeks before the final but they had not been idle.

In his hours spent studying the video, their backroom analyst Leon Holden uncovered a possible loophole at the front of the Tigers' lineout. The trap was sprung not once but twice in the first half and Leicester never really recovered.

No winner of a domestic double will have finished feeling as flat as the Tigers do this morning. Maybe they were too successful for their own good, inflicting upon themselves an unavoidable mad May slugfest that ultimately proved counterproductive. Wasps, for their part, have disproved the rugby law of physics that insists momentum is key in the build-up to finals. All Ian McGeechan, Shaun Edwards and the management team did was organise a practice game among the squad and leave their conditioning staff to do the rest.

"I don't know what the second team are going to say," chuckled McGeechan. "They're the only team to have beaten the European champions."

There were intriguing sub-plots at virtually every turn: England captains past and present Martin Corry and Phil Vickery exchanging blows, Corry and Dallaglio locking together like rutting stags and Fraser Waters winning the man-of-the-match award for a defensive display that mocked suggestions the ultra-physical modern game is no longer any place for polite Old Harrovians.

Joe Worsley, Dallaglio and Tom Rees also won the critical back-row contest but the most unlikely hero of all was another Harrow product, the 23-year-old Tom French. In Henley, where he has spent much of this season on loan, they know something about the young loosehead but the way he stood up to Julian White here will guarantee him attention far beyond the Thames Valley. The fact he had never previously started a major game for Wasps and was not even named in the starting line-up - he was an 11th-hour choice on the advice of Vickery and Raphael Ibanez - merely added to the storybook charm.

If Leicester could have their time again, there is no question which area they would amend. In their previous two winning finals the Tigers' formula had been to establish a big lead early on. On this occasion they allowed Wasps to seize the initiative in the 14th minute when Ibanez's crafty, quick lineout throw gave Eoin Reddan a clear run to the line down the blindside.

If scrumhalf Frank Murphy, prop Marcos Ayerza and Alesana Tuilagi had cause to wince inwardly for not paying more attention, it was nothing to the horror of the coaching staff when virtually the same thing happened again in the second quarter, Simon Shaw's deft return pass putting an ecstatic Ibanez over in the corner. If Alex King had not missed a potential 10 points with the boot, Leicester might have been buried by half-time.

In contrast to the previous week they could not nail their chances when they presented themselves, not least when Dallaglio dislodged the ball from Ben Kay's arms as his fellow England World Cup winner dived over. It was typical of the immense tackles flying in all over the field.

LEICESTER: G Murphy; S Rabeni, D Hipkiss, D Gibson, A Tuilagi; A Goode, F Murphy; M Ayerza, G Chuter, J White; L Deacon, B Kay; L Moody, S Jennings, M Corry. Replacements: O Smith for Gibson (51 mins), L Cullen for Kay (54 mins), I Humphreys for Goode (63 mins), A Moreno for Ayerza (74 mins), J Buckland for Chuter, S Vesty for G Murphy, B Deacon for Moody (all 78 mins).

WASPS: D Cipriani; P Sackey, F Waters, Lewsey, D Voyce; A King, E Reddan; T French, R Ibanez, P Vickery; S Shaw, T Palmer; J Worsley, T Rees, L Dallaglio. Replacements: J Haskell for Dallaglio (51 mins), D Leo for Shaw (55 mins), M van Gisbergen for King (74 mins), P Bracken for Vickery (75 mins), J Ward for Ibanez, D Waldouck for Waters (both 77 mins), F McMillan for Reddan (78 mins). Attendance: 81,076.

Referee: A Lewis(Ireland).

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