Rugby: Cardiff - 19 Leinster - 24 Leinster won't care one whit about winning ugly. Last night at at the Arms Park, Heineken European Cup victory over Cardiff was the only thing that mattered. The Irish province dug deep, showed character and just about held their nerve as they juggled precariously with the outcome in the final minutes.
Cardiff shouldn't have even got close and on another day Leinster might just emphasise the gulf in quality. It was a heroic performance from the pack, who excelled to a man, none working harder than Reggie Corrigan. His work ethic was embraced by the whole pack, particularly the outstanding Keith Gleeson.
He won his personal battle with Martyn Williams, contributed a crucial try and was the central figure in the battle for possession on the ground.
Black clouds enveloped Cardiff from early yesterday morning, the rain relentless and thereby guaranteeing a sodden surface at the Arms Park.
The rain didn't dissuade them from putting ball through hands but it certainly upped the ante in terms of precision. Errors exacerbated the tension in the opening 40 minutes as both teams struggled with their handling.
Leinster mauled the ball superbly from lineouts and if referee Joel Jutge had been a little more diligent Cardiff might have been penalised several times for deliberately dropping the moving mass of Leinster forwards.
The visitors' scrum was impressively aggressive and the French official took particular umbrage with Cardiff tighthead Darren Crompton's binding on more than one occasion. It was therefore surprising when Jutge penalised Leinster at a scrum close to their own line on nine minutes, awarding a free kick.
Cardiff outhalf Iestyn Harris chanced a drop goal, knowing a penalty would ensue if he missed, after Leinster strayed offside. The former rugby league star would kick three from as many opportunities, including one exceptional effort from 40 metres.
Leinster looked to release their backrow through midfield, Victor Costello and Eric Miller asked to break the first line of defence, and while the province tantalised on a couple of occasions, going close to grabbing tries, they could muster just one by the interval.
It was finished by right wing John McWeeney but the pivotal aspect from the moment Leinster turned over Cardiff possession in the latter's 22, was prop Peter Coyle's pivot and release out of the tackle to guarantee the overlap further out.
O'Meara converted, having earlier kicked a penalty, and after the first quarter, Leinster seemed poised to impose their patterns on the game. Mistakes continued to dog their impressive sequences of recycling and often cost them 40 or 50 metres.
While Cardiff rarely threatened their opponents' line, Harris's boot kept them in touch. O'Meara's second penalty, on 38 minutes, nudged the visitors to a 13-9 interval lead. The Welsh club's conservatism, the kick-and-chase game certainly more pragmatic in the rain, allowed them make marginally fewer handling errors than their opponents.
The home side's most fluent passage of rugby came just before half-time but Leinster's defence was resolute. Jutge had become an increasingly prominent presence in the game, fussy, and consistent in his inconsistency. None of the officials spotted a blatant stamp by Cardiff's Canadian flanker Dan Baugh on a prone Gleeson, trapped in a ruck.
O'Meara and Harris exchanged penalties after the interval but Leinster's game was becoming increasingly ragged. The cleanouts at ruck time were poor and the link between halfbacks increasingly frayed, and the ball was quite simply being put through too many hands before clearing their lines.
Leinster, by the nature of their own display, were sustaining Cardiff's hopes and it was individual excellence - McWeeney made a fine break - that occasionally raised competence levels. It was in one such moment on 50 minutes that Gleeson charged down Harris's attempted clearance, fly-hacked sensibly and regathered just short of the line to plunge over. O'Meara failed to add the extra points.
It was the visitors' turn to bear the brunt of Jutge's whistling and this, coupled with more Leinster errors, allowed Cardiff a foothold their rugby hardly merited. A succession of penalties saw Leinster corralled in their 22 and Cardiff finally managed the continuity of possession they craved to work the try-scoring opportunity for right wing Tom Shanklin.
Harris converted magnificently from the touchline and the home side trailed by just a couple of points, 21-19. What had been patently obvious from the stands eventually permeated to the Leinster players and D'Arcy and O'Driscoll both pinned Cardiff back with raking diagonal kicks to the corner. What had become clear was if Leinster didn't self- destruct their opponents weren't good enough to hurt them fatally.
O'Meara kicked a superb long-range penalty as the game entered the final 10 minutes to edge Leinster to a 24-19 lead, the rain and the errors incessant as time appeared to slow down.
Cardiff mustered one last assault, which foundered, and D'Arcy set off on a wonderful slaloming run of 60 metres, linked with Horgan but the supporting Miller's scoring pass to Girvan Dempsey was adjudged forward. Jutge's whistle a couple of seconds later tempered any Leinster disappointment.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 10 mins: Harris pen, 3-0; 14 mins: O'Meara pen, 3-3; 19 mins: McWeeney try, O'Meara con, 3-10; 30 mins: Harris pen, 6-10; 35 mins: Harris pen, 9-10; 38 mins: O'Meara pen, 9-13. Half-time: 9-13. 43 mins: O'Meara pen, 9-16; 49 mins: Harris pen, 12-16; 50 mins: Gleeson try, 12-21; 56 mins: Shanklin try, Harris con, 19-21; 70 mins: O'Meara penalty, 19-24.
CARDIFF: R Williams; T Shanklin, J Robinson, M Allen, C Morgan; I Harris, R Powell; J Yapp, G Williams, D Crompton, C Quinnell, A Moore, D Baugh, N Thomas, M Williams (capt). Replacements: J Brownrigg for Baugh (half-time).
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; J McWeeney, B O'Driscoll, S Horgan, G D'Arcy; C Warner, B O'Meara; R Corrigan (capt), S Byrne, P Coyle, B Gissing, M O'Kelly, E Miller, V Costello, K Gleeson.
Referee: J Jutge (France).
