Leinster stoop but never bend

Harlequins 5 Leinster 6:IT WAS a remarkable effort, an ode to sheer guts and unbending resilience that took Leinster from the cusp of defeat to a place in the Heineken Cup semi-final against Munster at Croke Park. Victory was measured in millimetres of turf as the province mounted an Alamo-style rearguard in the shadow of their own posts for large tranches of the second-half.

Time and again Harlequins came within inches of the whitewash but there was always a Leinster defender or two or three to position themselves under the ball carrier or dispatch an opponent back from where he came, often with interest; bone-on-bone collisions that energised on one side and deflated on the other.

In a previous life this Leinster team has had to answer questions about mental fortitude. At The Stoop yesterday, collectively, they answered their critics. The performance was deeply flawed from a technical and, on occasions, tactical perspective but on the day the decisive arbiter was the attitude they displayed in defence.

There was almost an elemental ferocity to the manner in which they protected their goal line for protracted periods. That they did so with the same 15 players that started the match underlines the collective commitment.

No one underlined this more than Rocky Elsom whose performance can be found under the heading “superlative”. He covered every blade of grass, hitting rucks, turning over ball, intercepting passes, making several tackles in one sequence of play and even finding enough wind to race 50 metres at one point. He was the Rocky on which Harlequins foundered.

He couldn’t have completed the task alone and several other members of the pack made outstanding contributions, notably Stan Wright, Jamie Heaslip and Leo Cullen. Shane Jennings slowed ’Quins ball down at the breakdown, so, too, did Bernard Jackman.

Malcolm O’Kelly grafted without relenting and Cian Healy produced a performance in all facets that belied his 21 years.

There were times when the Leinster scrum appeared in serious trouble but there were other occasions when they managed to tweak the Harlequins eight into a less advantageous position. The visitors were much more assured out of touch, pinching four throws and forcing their opponents to rely entirely on front of the lineout ball.

Chris Whitaker produced a brilliant performance defensively – defence coach Kurt McQuilkin deserves credit for the team display – while Felipe Contepomi showed a complete disregard for his own safety. Some of his tactical kicking was poor but he took both place-kicking opportunities, a crucial statistic in a game in which Harlequins missed a potential eight points with the boot.

Gordon D’Arcy took a few collisions to come to terms with the portable wardrobe that is Jordan Turner-Hall but once he worked out the measurements he took him down repeatedly. Brian O’Driscoll provided one of the two moments of genuine class shown by the visitors in attack that could have led to a try, while Luke Fitzgerald ran great lines all day, but was not picked up by team-mates.

Harlequins will reflect on not taking on a couple of kicks at goal, instead kicking to touch, missing a possible eight points and also trying to trying to take the door off its hinges rather than using a bit more guile. They also lost their first and second-choice outhalves in Nick Evans and Chris Malone, although the former did return in controversial circumstances.

Leinster’s first-half performance was shockingly error-ridden, from poor decision-making to some appalling kicking. Throw in some turnovers and handling errors and it was a minor miracle the visitors led at the interval.

That they did was down to Harlequins being equally profligate, primarily in their willingness to offload when the intended recipient was third best to get the ball.

The home side looked the more dangerous when they fleetingly managed to put pace on their patterns and the hard running of centre Turner-Hall and wing Ugo Monye coupled with Leinster players’ propensity to go high in the tackle meant the English club looked the more accomplished team with ball in hand. Evans’ departure had a big effect as his running and distribution caused multiple problems.

Leinster scrambled effectively but on occasion it was a close-run thing, with D’Arcy (on Monye) and Kearney (on David Strettle) producing try-saving tackles. The visitors were more of a liability to themselves at times, creating needless pressure on the back of a plethora of basic mistakes.

They still managed to go in at the interval leading 6-0 through a brace of Contepomi penalties.

The second came on 39 minutes when Harlequins number eight Nick Easter cynically knocked a ball down on his own line after a moment of O’Driscoll brilliance.

The Ireland captain chased his own chip into the ’Quins 22, got the benefit of a kind bounce, only to be hauled down on the line by a brilliant Monye tackle. As Leinster tried to recycle the ball – they should have committed more numbers to the ruck – Easter stuck his hand out and was sent to the bin. The argument for a penalty try wasn’t persuasive enough for referee Nigel Owens.

Leinster had a try ruled out six minutes after the restart. It started with an Elsom turnover and ended with Kearney dotting down but Contepomi’s pass to Isa Nacewa earlier was ruled forward.

No sooner had Easter returned from the bin than Contepomi headed in the opposite direction harshly adjudged to have obstructed Chris Robshaw as the flanker chased his own kick.

The visitors held out until the outhalf’s return despite being besieged in their own 22 but Harlequins eventually made the pressure tell when Mike Brown scooted over after more than a dozen rucks.

Malone missed the conversion and Brown a penalty from 50 metres before Evans’ reappearance. Harlequins worked field position from a penalty kicked to touch but Turner-Hall was thumped backwards in a gang tackle and when Evans was eventually forced to take on the drop goal, it was from 40 metres: he missed.

In forcing another turnover, Contepomi could have kicked the ball out to end the match but hacked and chased it into the Harlequins half: 11 seconds later, a knock-on brought the game to a conclusion and 3,000 Leinster fans rose to acclaim their team.

Scoring sequence: 14 mins: Contepomi pen, 0-3; 39: Contepomi pen, 0-6. Half-time: 0-6. 65: Brown try, 5-6.

HARLEQUINS: M Brown; D Strettle, G Tiesi, J Turner-Hall, U Moyne; N Evans, D Care; C Jones, G Botha, M Ross; J Percival, G Robson; C Robshaw, W Skinner (capt), N Easter. Replacements: C Malone for Evans (47 mins), J Evans for Percival, T Williams for Malone (both 69 mins), N Evans for T Williams (75 mins). Sin bin: N Easter (39 mins)

LEINSTER: R Kearney; I Nacewa, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, L Fitzgerald; F Contepomi, C Whitaker; C Healy, B Jackman, S Wright; L Cullen (capt), M O’Kelly; R Elsom, S Jennings, J Heaslip. Sin bin: F Contepomi (50 mins)

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

Ticket news

After their quarter-final wins yesterday, all roads now lead to Croke Park over the May Bank Holiday weekend for Munster and Leinster.

Tickets for the seismic semi-final on Saturday, May 2nd went on general sale at 6pm yesterday evening through the Ticketmaster website. The provinces will receive their allocations from ERC early this week. With the match sure to generate huge interest organisers can expect an 82,300 sell-out at GAA headquarters. Premium seats are available for €70, stand seats will cost €45 and Dineen / Hill 16 terrace tickets are €25.

When the clubs last met in this competition in 2006, Munster turned Lansdowne Road into a sea of red as their fans snaffled the lion's share of the tickets on offer. One suspects the Leinster support will be quicker off the mark on this occasion.

– Noel O'Reilly