European Cup Pool Six/Leicester 25 Leinster 9:To add insult (or maybe we should say compliment) to injury, the Leicester Tigers public-address announcer spent the afternoon calling them Munster. That is not a team Leinster can be compared to when the requirement is to tough it out on the road. The evidence was undeniable on Saturday in front of a partisan 17,033 crowd.
Only Thomond Park compares to Welford Road for noise. There were about 1,000 travelling supporters present; a sizeable number considering the game's context, but how long can such loyalty continue? Some may hold onto their remaining cash at least until the early rounds of next season's competition are complete.
It gets worse. Injuries to Brian O'Driscoll (heel and leg) and Jonathan Sexton (thumb) must be assessed by the Ireland medical staff today. And Stan Wright damaged a shoulder in this brutal battle.
Leinster found themselves in a scenario similar to Munster's in Clermont last week; they trailed 18-9 entering the last quarter. But what transpired was, well, different from Munster's heroic revival in France. Leinster lacked the urgency and resilience so vital to survival in this unforgiving environment.
The magic of that 2006 quarter-final when Toulouse were cut in half, in Toulouse, by pretty much the same Leinster cast, has become a fading memory.
Leicester, shorn by injury of Martin Corry, Lewis Moody, Ollie Smith, Dan Hipkiss, Harry Ellis and Aaron Mauger and holding Ben Kay and George Chuter in reserve, fielded a number of second stringers, each of whom played a substantial role in dominating the visitors.
Geordan Murphy put his hand up for Ireland selection, one high-ball take under pressure from Rob Kearney standing out.
The man of the match though was the Fijian behemoth Seru Rabeni, who repeatedly carried tacklers over the gain line.
Felipe Contepomi put Leinster 6-3 in front, though many behind the posts felt his second penalty had sailed wide, before the Tigers went through the gears with a multi-phased attack resulting in a fine try for the flanker Brett Deacon.
Contepomi put the restart straight into touch and after Andy Goode attacked left off the resulting scrum, a blindside move initiated by Frank Murphy saw the Springbok lock Marco Wentzel release Rabeni.
Leading 15-6, Leicester introduced their maul to proceedings. The faint possibility of Leinster qualification had already faded anyway as Toulouse raced into a 22-3 lead against Edinburgh.
Then it all got a little messy. The ever-biased Welford crowd undoubtedly played a part when their team were reduced to 13 men before the break. Julian White should have been red-carded for punching Malcolm O'Kelly, but referees rarely dismiss hometown captains, and in fairness, Christophe Berdos had to refer to his touch-judge for an eye-witness account.
Goode joined the Lions tighthead in the sin bin six minutes later for a high tackle on O'Driscoll that initiated a mini-riot. Typical Tigers stuff, really. All that mattered was Leinster posted zero points with the extra men.
Also in this period, Stephen Knoop was called ashore, for the second week running, as Ollie Le Roux was asked to steady a creaking scrum.
The veteran prop popped up in open play a bit but one delayed offload was knocked on by Kearney with the try-line in sight.
Gang tackling became the order of the day, multiple handling errors in contact being the end result.
The only other chances came from speculative O'Driscoll kicks behind winger Tom Varndell, but they all ended in nothing.
When Contepomi reduced arrears to 15-9 with a third penalty, Leicester merely regrouped and upped the tempo to put Goode in range to restore the nine-point lead.
The lively Chris Keane, replacing Guy Easterby, threatened to spark a revival but his break and inside pass to Le Roux resulted in the South African flinging a wild pass over Kearney's head.
The final nails were driven in on 74 minutes when Leinster were turned over in their own 22 and the Kiwi Ben Herring was rucked over for the third try, Goode converting.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 1 min: F Contepomi pen, 0-3; 3: A Goode pen, 3-3; 6: Contepomi pen, 3-6; 19: B Deacon try, 8-6; 22: S Rabeni try, Goode con, 15-6 (half-time 15-6); 50: F Contepomi pen, 15-9; 54: Goode pen, 18-9; 74: B Herring try, Goode con, 25-9.
LEICESTER TIGERS: G Murphy; T Varndell, A Erinle, S Rabeni, J Murphy; A Goode, F Murphy; M Castrogiovanni, B Kayser, J White (capt); L Deacon, M Wentzel; B Deacon, B Herring, J Crane. Replacements: M Ayerza for Deacon (31-40 mins), G Chuter for Kayser (66 mins), Ayerza for Castrogiovanni (72 mins), B Youngs for F Murphy (77 mins), D Young for White (79 mins). Sinbinned: White (30 mins), Goode (36 mins).
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; L Fitzgerald, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, R Kearney; F Contepomi, G Easterby; S Wright, B Jackman, S Knoop; L Cullen, M O'Kelly; S Keogh, S Jennings, J Heaslip. Replacements: O Le Roux for Knoop (30 mins), C Keane for Easterby, K Gleeson for Keogh (both 47 mins), C Healy for Wright (66 mins), J Sexton for O'Driscoll (75 mins), G Brown for Sexton (80 mins).
Referee: C Berdos (France).
