Cardiff’s penalty Blues as Crane lifts Tigers

YOU gotta hand it to this competition.

Just when you suspect it might have exhausted its well of treats it goes and digs up senior rugby’s first ever place-kicking shoot-out, and with sudden death tossed in just for good measure.

As Russell Crowe might say: Are you not entertained?

Well, entertained? Yes. Satisfied? Not by a long shot. The second semi-final certainly lived up to Saturday’s events at Croke Park but the manner in which it was settled left a bitter taste in the mouth. Even Geordan Murphy described it as a “nasty” way to win.

Imagine how it felt to lose.

The football equivalent has long been criticised as an unseemly means of deciding matters but the cruelty of the concept reached new levels here when the backs on both sides all had their say and heads turned towards the grunts.

Martyn Williams is a world class player but not one designed to kick an oval ball with precision. When he skewed Cardiff’s eighth effort wide, it was left to Jordan Crane to do the honours and send Leicester to Edinburgh to face Leinster.

As with all shoot-outs, it had swung one way and then another before finally finding someone to carry the can. Leicester’s Irish wing, Johne Murphy, had originally looked like being the fall guy, only to be rescued by Tom James’ subsequent failure.

The manner in which Leicester greeted their “victory” said it all about the unsatisfactory nature of the last act. Only Scott Hamilton made a beeline for Crane to celebrate. The rest merely trudged towards their opponents where they shrugged shoulders and shook hands.

Maybe that says something about rugby’s famed sporting etiquette or maybe both teams were simply too tired to celebrate or weep. One hundred minutes of high-octane rugby will do that.

Extra-time was, in itself, relatively new. Prior to this, just three games had required the additional 20 minutes since the tournament’s inception. The last was four years ago when Toulouse and Stade Francais met in the decider.

Another first, an all-Magners League final, will have to wait but Leinster and Leicester haven’t exactly been strangers, in European terms, over the course of the last dozen or so seasons.

The pair have met nine times before and, while honours are almost even with Leinster having won four to Leicester’s five, the Tigers have won the games that have mattered most, particularly a pair of quarter-finals in 2002 and 2005.

Leicester, of course, have won this competition twice. Leinster still await their first, as do Cardiff who will wonder what more they have to do change that having lost the inaugural decider to Toulouse after extra-time as well.

Talk of bad luck was rife yesterday, in fact, with Williams’ miss being portrayed as yet another example of a so-called ‘Curse of the Lions’ which has already claimed Tomás O’Leary and might yet, Alan Quinlan, though for contrasting reasons.

Coincidence or not, two sides which originally accounted for 14 of Ian McGeechan’s tourists came a cropper in the space of just over 24 hours at the weekend.

Like Saturday’s, yesterday’s game delivered bang for its buck. Leicester have a Premiership semi-final against Bath to plan for next weekend and they may have cause to rue their inability to close this game out in normal time for it was one they had the better of for long stretches.

Scrum-half Julien Dupuy was guilty of missing three eminently kickable penalties in the first half and a cluster of infringements in the last 10 minutes of the opening period allowed Cardiff convert three of their own.

So, despite their obvious superiority, Leicester were only 13-12 ahead at the interval thanks to Scott Hamilton’s 23rd minute try that owed its inception to Toby Flood’s quick hands in midfield.

Leicester were more clinical on the restart with their second try owing much to Johne Murphy’s break down the left and even more to his namesake Geordan’s penetrating run through the defence and under the posts.

Dupuy’s conversion and two subsequent penalties took the lead to a daunting 14 points but any prospect of a cruise-control finale started to crumble when Leicester’s ranks underwent some serious surgery. Flood and Johne Murphy departed with injuries, the latter temporarily, while Craig Newby and Geordan Murphy were condemned to the sinbin for putting their hands where they shouldn’t.

All this happened in the space of eight minutes and the drain of personnel eventually had its effect on the English side.

Newby had actually reappeared when the breakthrough came courtesy of Jamie Roberts who went over in the corner with six minutes to go and then Tom James ran half the length of the pitch to do likewise. Kudos to Blair who nailed both conversions from wide on the left to bring the sides level. Then came extra-time, a period that was haunted by fear and conservatism, but the drama was only just beginning.

CARDIFF BLUES: B Blair; L Halfpenny, T Shanklin, J Roberts, T James; N Robinson, R Rees; G Jenkins, G Williams, F Filise; B Davies, P Tito, M Molitika, M Williams, X Rush.

Replacements: D Jones for Tito (8); A Powell for Molitika (60); C Sweeney for Roberts (99).

LEICESTER TIGERS: G Murphy; S Hamilton, D Hipkiss, S Vesty, J Murphy; T Flood, J Dupuy; M Ayerza, G Chuter, M Castrogiovanni; T Croft, B Kay; C Newby, B Woods, J Crane.

Replacements: J White for Castogiovanni (51); B Kayser for Chuter (60); A Mauger for Flood (61); L Moody for Woods (74); H Ellis for Dupuy 76; M Wentzel for Kay (93); J Dupuy for Hipkiss (99).

Referee: A Rolland (Ireland).