Leicester brought to their knees

WAS this one match too many for Leicester? In a season that ended with several consecutive big games, all of them knockout games, hugely physical games, games that went to the wire – even beyond, on one notable occasion, the extra-time/extra-time penalty shootout Heineken Cup semi-final win over Cardiff Blues – was this a bridge too far for the Tigers?

No, said second-row Tom Croft. “I don’t think so, I think we had the players to win that game. I don’t think it was a matter of being too physical, of being beyond us; we didn’t play like we’ve played all season, didn’t play to our potential – if we had, we could have won that game, but we didn’t.”

No, echoed prop forward Julian White: “To be fair, we probably haven’t played our best rugby over those few weeks. This wasn’t a step too far, we’ve got plenty of time off now – people say it was a long season but ultimately this is what you play for, days like this. It was a long season for Leinster as well but they won; Leicester have a great tradition, we’re used to these demands at the end of the season – you can’t make that excuse. We wanted this win as much as we’ve ever wanted a win, we were denied on the day – that’s the way it goes.”

And yet, for all those denials, you would have to say that yes, it was indeed a bridge too far, one confrontation with yet another top team too many. No-one illustrated this fact more than Tom Croft himself. This is a guy who has had a sensational season, who has played himself – albeit a little later than generally anticipated – on to the plane to South Africa, with the Lions. A backrow by build and by nature, he has of late been drafted into the Leicester second-row, where his athleticism has compensated for his lack of pure bulk. On Saturday, however, he looked tired, didn’t have that same buzz he’s had all season, wasn’t as omnipresent around the park as he’s been.

Even in the line-out, an area where Leicester were expected to be totally dominant on their own throw and seriously disruptive on Leinster’s, an area where Croft has given them a massive advantage with his ability to get off the ground, the fact that he can be thrown in the air by a single lifter, the newly-crowned Guinness Premiership champions struggled, early on especially.

The magnificence of Leinster’s Rocky Elsom had much to do with that, of course, a major factor in why Leicester lost four of their first six throws – “You’ve got to guess how it’s going to go,” Elsom explained, “Make a decision, and go with it. There’s a bit of risk in that but we pulled it off, we disrupted a lot. We had two weeks in which we could look into their lineouts and I think it paid off.”

Was that the difference, Leinster’s easier run-in? After their exertions against Munster, coach Michael Cheika was able to give his top players a low-pressure end-of-season run-out against Llanelli in the Magners League, their interest in that competition ended some weeks earlier, then rest them entirely last weekend; Leicester, meanwhile, had two huge games in the Guinness Premiership, a semi-final against Bath, then the final last Saturday in Twickenham, a low-scoring one-point come-from-behind win over London-Irish. It must have been a factor.

“Yes, the games have all been physical,” retorted Croft, “but we’ve come through them all, our fitness coaches have looked after us well. Obviously it’s a disappointment, but it’s a game we could have won, and we had the players to win it; fair play to Leinster they stepped forward on the day. I think it was always a game that was to go to the wire. Leinster had a good gameplan, their kicking game was very good, pinned us back in our own half. We showed glimpses where we did turn the game around, got on top, but penalties can turn a game, and did today. But we’ve won silverware, won the Guinness last week, were close again today, so we’ve got a lot to take out of this year. Now we just have to look forward to next year, hopefully get ourselves back into this situation again.”

For Croft, of course, it’s not over yet, and he and scrum-half Harry Ellis (got only five minutes on Saturday, late replacement for Julian Dupuy) from the Leicester squad linked up with Brian O’Driscoll, Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney (another who saw only limited action on Saturday) and Leinster try-scorer Jamie Heaslip in Heathrow last night. How much is left in the tank – even for the Leinster heroes – for what is guaranteed to be another extremely physically testing few weeks on the killing fields of South Africa?

One shudders to think…