Whistle-blower foils Leinster

And so, just like that, a season ended. Leinster's campaign is over and so too, most probably, are those of Gary Halpin and Kevin Putt in a Leinster jersey. For a poignant farewell in the visiting dressing-room, the squad formed a circle and sang The Rare 'Oul Times. No doubt, hardly a dry eye in the place.

However, it is to the indictment of the referee that it ended like this. So domineering was the presence of Italian Giovanni Morandin that it was hard to make any kind of assessment of this game.

It wasn't just that Morandin whistled Leinster off the pitch throughout the 80 minutes (the tally was generally agreed to be around the 23-11 mark), but the stop-start nature of the match on a pudding of a surface suited Biarritz's big, mauling pack and the boot of outhalf Frano Botica.

"It certainly wasn't the reward they deserved for the dedication and professionalism they've shown all year and it's very hard when you see the whistle blown like that," observed Matt Williams a little bitterly.

"When you don't get an even shake you feel desperately sorry for the players. "Very imaginative refereeing is the best way I'd describe it. I don't get paid enough by the Irish Rugby Union to get a fine, but it was very imaginative. It's funny but I didn't know the laws changed when you cross the channel. But seriously, it's something that the Heineken Cup organisers have to look for."

Williams does his homework on referees, and did so on this inadequate official, but admitted afterwards: "I didn't expect that." Yet, coupled with Morandin's body language and a palpable lack of fitness in keeping up with play (though constant whistling helps) as the early rash of penalties went against Leinster, you had a gut feeling that the match was never going to really break out.

Nor did the lop-sided penalty count cease. Williams was particularly bitter that after a dozen post interval penalties to the home side, he timed Leinster's first penalty at 40 minutes and 42 seconds into the second period.

Biarritz also seemed to be allowed gross liberties at ruck time, if not in pinching ball on the deck then in delaying Leinster's ball. Liam Toland went so far as to say: "One or two of the Biarritz players could have been sinbinned for blatantly being offside."

Nevertheless, there have to be more factors behind a 30-10 defeat.

Though predictably given their toughest examination in the scrums this season, Leinster had played with more width, variety and penetration in looking the better side despite trailing 9-3 at the break. There were many good performances - Trevor Brennan made many hard yards and tackled with disciplined gusto, and Reggie Corrigan was a potent weapon up the middle - and on the few occasions they were able to, Leinster exercised some good lineout variations.

They had played themselves into contention at 10-12 with a well-worked try early in the second-half. But, unable to procure their own restarts and starved of possession as the Biarritz pack rumbled on the worsening pitch, Leinster were bullied out of it.

Williams acknowledged: "We've got to put our hands up and say we turned balls over . . . but we played with so much courage that I felt if we'd had an even go it might have been different." But as Toland and Emmet Byrne admitted, qualification for the quarter-finals wasn't lost here on Saturday night, more in dropping three points to Edinburgh Reivers and especially failing to close out a winnable lead at home to the Scots a week previously.

Had Leinster done so, the value in taking what would have been a four-tries-to-nil lead over Biarritz into Saturday's game would have been apparent. The home side would have been forced to go for it from the start, instead of just mauling the ball or putting it in the air until Morandin allowed Botica to kick three-pointers. Furthermore, Leinster would never have had to play catch-up in the second-half.

Even allowing for Morandin's performance, it's doubtful that Biarritz would have had the wherewithal to outscore Leinster by four tries or more. So, in hindsight, that last-second penalty by Duncan Hodge effectively cost Leinster pole position in Pool One on eight points, and with it a quarter-final away to Munster this Saturday. What a day that would have been, though perhaps the Irish management won't be spilling too many tears about it.

Maybe next year then. "I've no doubt there's foundations there for a great future," said Williams.

"I believe this is a future champion team and certainly I've enjoyed coaching them this year and hopefully will continue to do that." With another year on his contract, he'll have a big say in delivering on their undoubted promise.

Scoring sequence - 4 mins: Botica pen 3-0; 8 mins:Botica pen 6-0; 11 mins: O'Meara pen 6-3; Botica pen 9-3; 42 mins: Botica pen 12-3; 45 mins: Dempsey try, O'Meara con 12-10; 53 mins: Milheres try, Botica con 19-10; 62 mins: Betsen try 24-10; 67 mins: Botica pen 27-10; 77 mins: Botica pen 30-10.

BIARRITZ: S Bonetti; P Bernat-Salles, P Bidade, N Couttet, S Legg; F Botica, S Bonnet; E Menieu, J-M Gonzalez (capt), D Avril, J-P Versailles, O Roumat, S Betsen, O Nauroy, C Milheres. Replacements: S Nochi for Milheres (72 mins), M Lievrement for Roumat (75 mins), B Daguerre for Couttet (75 mins), M Irazoqui for Avril (77 mins).

LEINSTER: G Dempsey; P McKenna, B O'Driscoll, S Horgan, G D'Arcy; E Hekenui, B O'Meara; R Corrigan, S Byrne, E Byrne, R Casey, M O'Kelly, T Brennan, V Costello, L Toland (capt). Replacements: G Halpin for E Byrne, P Smyth for S Byrne, L Cullen for Casey (all 65 mins), K Putt for O'Meara, S Keogh for McKenna, M McHugh for Horgan, D O'Brien for Brennan (all 84 mins).

Referee: G Morandin (Italy).