Leinster go down tamely to Tigers

Leinster 13 Leicester 29

The 29-13 scoreline in what was flagged as the most competitive of the Heineken Cup quarter-finals hardly did justice to Martin Johnson's side.

Not for the first time, Leinster failed to front up when it counted most. Instead, it was the side that sneaked into the knockout stages thanks to a series of fortuitous developments that romped home. The Tigers came with the intention of keeping Leinster on the back foot from start to finish. How emphatically they succeeded.

Growled Martin Johnson: "Leinster hardly got out of their own half for the first 40 minutes and we might well have had two further tries."

As it was, the Tigers turned over 16-3 in front and a side so assured and experienced was never going to relinquish such an advantage.

Close on 50,000 packed into Lansdowne Road, at least 80% of them there to support the home side. You would never have thought it. There were still 10 minutes to be played when the 10,000 or so Leicester fans broke into Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. The response from Leinster supporters? Total silence.

At least they could claim they were given nothing to shout about by those out on the pitch. Which begs the question, how is it that Leinster teams apparently replete with some of rugby's finest, cannot deliver on the big day? Do they lack the stomach for battle? Do they fly the white flag just a little too easily? Or is it simply because they don't have what it takes, mentally and physically, to do what must be done when the most serious questions are asked?

"Leicester played very well and that's why the game went the way it did," said coach Declan Kidney.

"At 6-3 in the first half, we hit the post with a penalty kick and within minutes found ourselves 13-3 behind. That's what good sides do and Leicester are a good side. In the second half, we got an early penalty only for Leicester to score their second try from the restart. That again demonstrated how good they are and there is no shame in losing to a good side."

All true, but deep down one suspects Kidney was bitterly disappointed at the failure of his more experienced players to lead by example. Not one provided the example so desperately required if Leicester's renowned hard men like Johnson and Graham Rowntree and the outstanding back-row of Moody, Corry and Back were to be put in their place.

Where were Malcolm O'Kelly and Reggie Corrigan, Eric Miller and Shane Byrne, Keith Gleeson and Leo Cullen when the Tigers threw down the gauntlet?

In those circumstances, a back division full of big names was bereft of genuine opportunities to show what they were capable of. Even so, one watched the second best scrum-half in Ireland, Guy Easterby, and wondered again how he has a hatful of international caps. As for the others, Leicester had a game plan to deal with the threat posed by Brian O'Driscoll and well could Martin Johnson enthuse at how well it worked.

David Holwell and Shane Horgan had their moments but were incapable of influencing the outcome with so much going wrong around them. Nor did the introduction of Victor Costello, Gordon D'Arcy and Shane Jennings make for any material difference. As a side Leinster were completely flat and the only explanation Kidney could offer was to pay due tribute to Leicester.

Martin Johnson, for one, was not arguing. "Our defence was tremendous, no other word to describe it, and we put them under pressure throughout the game," he said.

Yet only a week previously they had been humiliated by the lowly Leeds Tykes. "We were nearly ashamed to turn up here after that and owed it to our supporters to atone," he said. As for that big start Johnson demanded of his men, it came from the kickoff when Lewis Moody grabbed Andy Goode's kick and drove into the heart of the Leinster defence.

The Leinster scrum creaked as Rowntree drove into his one-time team-mate Ricky Nebbett and turned him at will. The line-out also went the way of the Tigers and the loose exchanges very much the same.

The Leicester backs could hardly fail to prosper in the circumstances, none More so than out-half Andy Goode who gave a commanding performance.

Leicester roll on to the appetising prospect of a semi-final With Toulouse in their own backyard. A similar display in three weeks will seriously worry the French aristocrats. For now, they are revelling in a result that included tries for Ollie Smith and Daryl Gibson and an immaculate kicking contribution from Goode.

If any Leinster player left with his reputation untarnished, it was their New Zealand out-half David Holwell and he landed two penalties as well as adding the points to a second-half try to Shane Horgan when the game was over as a meaningful contest.

LEINSTER: Dempsey, Horgan, O'Driscoll, Contepomi, D. Hickie, Holwell, Easterby, Corrigan, S. Byrne, Nebbett, O'Kelly, Cullen, Potts, Gleeson, Miller.

Replacements: D'Arcy for Contepomi (53), Costello for Potts (50), Jennings for Gleeson (59).

LEICESTER: Vesty, Murphy, Smith, Gibson, Lloyd, Goode, Ellis, Rowntree, Chuter, Morris, M. Johnson, L. Deacon, Moody, Back, Corry.

Referee: J Jutge (France).