Leinster 29 Clermont 28:A PULSATING, utterly breathless match. If the other three quarter-finals are half as good as this the Heineken Cup will, even by its exalted standards, have excelled itself. This was a rollercoaster of a ride, as breathless for the spectators as it must have been for the players whose skill and powers of endurance almost beggared belief.
As with last year’s quarter-final, Leinster prevailed by a point. But as epic as that backs-to-the-wall defensive effort was, this was an altogether different test of them mentally and physically.
With a truly inspired Jamie Heaslip leading the way up front, they had to roll with more punches than most teams could ever have done. Clermont’s potent mix of power close-up and pace out wide had them on the ropes, and Leinster were particularly vulnerable out wide, where Julien Malzieu helped himself to a hat-trick. Their scrum also struggled after the half-time departure of CJ van der Linde.
In truth, Clermont will view this as yet another that got away, and uppermost amongst the outcome was Jonathan Sexton landing seven from eight, whereas Brock James kicked five from nine and missed three drop goals, his third coming with the last kick of the game after the 80 minutes were up.
Amid the power running, both Mario Ledesma and Marius Joubert were offloading deftly inside the first two minutes, while both Rob Kearney and the unsure Isa Nacewa were being tested in the air as Clermont owned field position. James hooked a routine penalty wide before Heaslip fumbled the outhalf’s long punt. Clermont exacted full punishment, James chipping off the scrum and Joubert gathering before Aureline Rougerie made the transfer for Malzieu to score.
James landed the conversion and added a penalty after his cross kick-cum-kick pass exposed Leinster out wide again. Typically, although indisciplined, Leinster responded and in a game of savage physicality, the likes of Stanley Wright, Leo Cullen and Heaslip thundered into the tackles as they began flooding the contact/breakdown zone.
Kearney’s towering touch finder gave them their first foothold over a quarter into the game. Ledesma’s crooked throw gave Leinster the scrum from which Heaslip and Kevin McLaughlin attacked, and Sexton tapped over a resultant penalty.
Reddan’s box-kick off the restart was brilliantly chased, Kearney nailing Anthony Floch and Stanley Wright and John Fogarty led a thunderous follow-up hit at the breakdown to force a turnover. After Gordon D’Arcy had taken the ball up, there didn’t seem much on off the next recycle except for one small factor; the ball was in Brian O’Driscoll’s hands. A wondrous step, and an even more wondrous left-handed offload took out Canale and Rougerie, for Heaslip to thunder on and score.
Sexton even nailed the difficult conversion and after James first pulled a penalty wide and was then well short from half-way, Leinster and the inspired Heaslip struck again. The alert English assistant referee Stuart Terheege was a big factor, spotting that Floch had touched Kearney’s long punt outside the 22, before retrieving the ball and kicking directly to touch.
Presented with an attacking lineout, McLaughlin was launched off the tail before being tackled bravely by Morgan Parra, and off the recycle Heaslip ploughed through James to score. Sexton converted again. A further bonus came by way of a 50-metre penalty by Sexton to make it 20-10 at the break, with James 45-metre penalty falling short with the last kick of the half.
The game was far from over though. As the penalties kept mounting against Leinster, the visitors responded with a classic Clermont try. Getting their patterns going off an attacking lineout, Ledesma and Thomas Domingo added real ballast to Elvis Vermeulen’s carry after Cian Healy, just on, missed with his attempted hit and the halves and Joubert moved it wide for Malzieu to score in the corner.
James suddenly rediscovered his radar when landing a long-range penalty when Healy came in from the side to make it a two-point game before the 10s exchanged further penalties and Leinster’s goose looked cooked when Shane Horgan failed to foot-trap a long punt by James and then had his kick charged down by Joubert for Malzieu to gather and score with James converting.
It was looking ominous when the TMO denied Eoin Reddan a touchdown after Kearney’s sumptuous line though compensation came by way of a Sexton penalty for an earlier swinging arm in the tackle.
A double wrap by Sexton and D’Arcy around O’Driscoll and Horgan would have led to a try for D’Arcy but for Anthony Floch’s deliberate knockdown. The yellow card and the lead off Sexton’s nerveless penalty followed, but Clermont pummelled Leinster some more after Kearney had been taken out by Rougerie. However, after setting up two drop goals for James, the outhalf fluffed his lines.
LEINSTER:R Kearney, S Horgan, B ODriscoll, G DArcy, I Nacewa, J Sexton, E Reddan, S Wright, J Fogarty, C Van Der Linde, L Cullen (capt), N Hines, K McLaughlin, S Jennings, J Heaslip. Replacements:C Healy for van der Linde (half-time), B Jackman for Fogarty (74 mins), G Dempsey for Kearney (77 mins). Not used: M Ross, M OKelly, Stephen Keogh, P ODonohoe, S Berne.
ASM CLERMONT AUVERGNE:A Floch, A Rougerie (capt), M Joubert, G Canale, J Malzieu, B James, M Parra, T Domingo, M Ledesma, D Zirakashvili, J Cudmore, T Privat, J Bonnaire, A Lapandry, E Vermeulen. Replacements:J Pierre for Privat, A Audebert for Lapandry (both 54 mins), V Debaty for Domingo (70 mins), B Cabello for Ledesma (74 mins). Not used: C Ric, K Senio, G Williams, W Fofana. Sinbinned: Floch (69-79 mins).
Referee:David Pearson (England)
