Leinster failed to join their fellow Irish provincial side Munster in the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup today after they went down 29-18 to Leicester at Welford Road. Leinster began brilliantly, going 10 points up in the early stages but Leicester's stunning second quarter performance, which saw them score four tries, gave them complete control of this quarter-final tie.
Irish international Brian O'Driscoll indicated in the opening seconds that he would be the man to watch with a defence-splitting run that resulted in the Tigers infringing in the face of Leinster's attack and fly-half Nathan Spooner landed an easy penalty. However, after that initial burst of pace, O'Driscoll remained anonymous for much of the encounter and it was his Lions team-mate Austin Healey who produced a match-winning performance.
Despite Leicester dominating possession in the opening stages, it was Leinster who scored the game's opening try albeit in controversial circumstances. A downfield ball from Spooner was chased by Denis Hickie more in hope than expectation. Leicester full-back Geordan Murphy failed to gather and Hickie kicked on. Healey led the chase back and looked to have gotten the first touch with his despairing dive as the ball bobbled over the line. However, referee Joel Jutge consulted his touch-judge and awarded the try, ruling Hickie to be the man to get first downward pressure.
Despite that disappointing ruling, Leicester did not let their heads drop and instead it inspired them to fight back with a try of their own on 23 minutes as Neil Back touched down. However, without the services of their regular goalkicker, Leicester failed with the conversion through Geordan Murphy. Five minutes later, the game was level after a superb long pass from Healey found Leon Lloyd and he burst into the corner to touchdown but once again Murphy failed to convert.
However, Leicester did take the lead when Healey capped off an impressive first-half performance with Leicester's third try inside 10 minutes and Murphy successfully converted for the first time in the game to put the home side seven points clear. He then made amends for his earlier poor kicking when he touched down himself before half-time and once again converted to leave the score at 24-10 in Leicester's favour. Spooner's penalty kick just before the interval would have lifted the away team's spirits somewhat but it was difficult to see how Matt Williams' team could get back into this game.
Any realistic chances they had of doing this disappeared when man-of-the-match Neil Back scored Leicester's fifth try of the game in the 52nd minute. Leinster's Ben Willis did score a try four minutes later but the Tigers' defence was not breached for the remainder of the match. A deserved win for the defending champions and on this form they are certainly the team to avoid in the last four of the competition.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
