Weary Mason is honoured for his craft

Simon Mason cut a rather dishevelled figure as, bootless, he hobbled to the front of the media tent 50 minutes after Ulster's momentous victory at Lansdowne Road on Saturday. Still clad in his match gear, Mason clutched an ice pack to his knee. He greeted his interrogators with a weary smile.

His entrance came a half an hour after Ulster captain David Humphreys and coach Harry Williams, with the European Cup in tow, had graciously fielded a plethora of questions. Both were visibly drained, putting some perspective on an emotional afternoon was providing a problem.

But neither encountered difficulty in singling out Mason for special praise. Williams maintained: "He (Mason) is an absolute machine, he's a brilliant lad. You can't coach kids like that, anyone who tries is an absolute ass. He's just a natural, beautiful kicker."

Humphreys pointed out: "I don't think that (Mason's kicking) was unexpected. he's been doing it all season, so this was just another day for him."

Six kicks from as many opportunities, a record points tally for the European Cup, were the main statistics to hand, but it was one that Mark McCall would later reveal that best illustrates Mason's ability with the boot.

In limbering up for the match Mason "enjoyed a little kicking practice." His words. McCall fills in the blanks. "He kicked 40 out of 40. The guy's just incredible. He does that and then goes out and kicks another six in the match, 46 out of 46 on the day, it's phenomenal."

Mason preferred to deflect attention from his kicking exploits. "We just didn't want to let anyone down, there was such expectation. The crowd has been a huge factor in all our recent performances and they were magnificent again here."

And as for his kicking: "It was a big relief to get the first one. I had been kicking well all week. In fact it's the best that I have ever kicked before a big game. The danger though is that you leave it on the training park."

Mason spoke of the elation, Humphreys described the success as fantastic, Williams tried to remain measured. "It mightn't have been the prettiest game of rugby, but we picked their weak spots and worked on those. The end justifies the means."

But even he succumbed to the magnitude of the occasion. "To think that the Ulster boys are responsible for what happened, it's absolutely fabulous. This game was not just for the people of Ulster but for the people of all of Ireland. We are one of four feeder teams to the national side and we hope that they do next week what we managed."

Ironically it was a Frenchman who perfectly encapsulated the atmosphere at Lansdowne Road. Colomiers flanker Patrick Tabacco marvelled at the noise provided by the crowd and far from being intimidated, he admitted to revelling in the pomp and pageantry of the occasion.

"No, I didn't find it intimidating, it was quite motivating. You are in the tunnel outside the dressing-room and you hear this great noise. It sent a shiver down my spine and I could feel the adrenaline surge. But once you get on the pitch all you think about is rugby."

The French were magnanimous in defeat, not looking for excuses despite the verbal bait tossed in their direction but on the subject of the referee, Welsh official Clayton Thomas they bit momentarily. The fact that Thomas had ventured in an interview in the match programme: "When I am refereeing my aim is not be noticed," would have been construed as a particularly cruel aside.

The main topic of conversation at the Colomiers press conference was quantifying just how bad he was. Assistant coach Philippe Ducousso suggested: "I did feel that at certain strategic moments, the refereeing went against us, especially when we were taking the ball from the base of the scrum. The Ulster back-row were not bound as they should be.

"I think the referee probably cost us 10 to 12 points but I don't want to be over-critical of his performance." A bit late for backtracking but in mitigation Ducousso then added: "I wish to salute Ulster and their triumph."

He added: "We studied Ulster and saw that they had a simple effective gameplan. On the day we needed to be more rigorous. We reacted badly to their kicking game, we were nervy under the ball. There were two or three opportunities to move the ball wide.

It is a pity that those did not work.

"Ulster showed good organisation, did not panic and moved the ball forward well. I knew that if we gave away penalties that they had a very good kicker."