Leinster defend their European crown against Ulster in an all-Irish Heineken Cup final on Saturday evening. Here are five of the best Heineken Cup final moments from 15 great years.
The Hand of Back, 2002
Peter Stringer, nor anyone else in Munster, definitely won’t be thinking of this one as a great moment, but it had everything you need to define a momentous split-second at the endgame of a huge occasion. With two minutes left and six points separating the sides, Munster faced a massive attacking scrum five metres from the line, front and centre of the pitch.
Stringer stooped to put in but as the ball flew against the head into the Leicester second row he immediately turned in outrage to protest to referee Joel Jutge. Replays showed the carefully positioned hand of Neil Back, a man for whom the phrase “win at all costs” could have been coined, impeding Stringer at just the right moment and out of sight of the official. And with that Munster’s Heineken Cup dream died for another year.
“Rubbish,” Stringer declared. We could think of a few stronger words.
Poor old Poitrenaud, 2004
He who hesitates is lost, they say. In the case of Clement Poitrenaud, the enigmatic Toulouse full back, it was more like he who hesitates loses the Heineken Cup for his team. Two minutes left and Wasps and Toulouse were tied at 20-20, with both sides staring down the barrel of the first Heineken Cup final extra-time period since the inaugural tournament in 1996.
That was before Rob Howley’s grubber kick down the touchline and as Poitrenaud waited and waited and waited for the ball to take a favourable bounce either into touch or across the goal-line, the Welsh scrum half pounced for one of the most dramatic conclusions to any major sporting final in memory.
Stringer exorcises his final demons, 2006
Four years after he watched Back’s underhand ploy in horror, Stringer gained his atonement, by outwitting opponents of his own. There was nothing illicit about the little scrum half’s magic moment, though, as he fooled the Biarritz defence down the blindside and crossed the line untouched to put Munster in command.
Declan Kidney’s side would eventually hold out for a four-point win, and Stringer’s sleight of hand was the key memory from a breakthrough win which finally satisfied arguably the most ravenous hunger any sporting collective – for Munster circa 2006 was much more than just a team – has ever had for any trophy.
Jonny Sexton’s unbelievable drop goal, 2009
Apologies Ulster supporters, but this is the first of two Jonny Sexton moments to round off this quintet of magical moments. Sexton was still an emerging force in May of 2009, when Leinster made their bid for a first Heineken Cup title – and go some way towards removing the yoke of inferiority to the by then two-time winners Munster – by taking on tournament heavyweights Leicester.
Brian O’Driscoll grabbed a surprise drop goal to open the scoring but it was Sexton’s effort later in the first half which really stood out. Three points would be the final margin of victory, so this exceptional kick was effectively the difference between winning and losing. Not only that, but it underlined Sexton’s growing status as a man for the biggest of occasions, about which more below…
Sexton’s tour de force, 2011
It’s interesting in hindsight to listen to the Sky Sports commentators, Miles Harrison and Stuart Barnes, talk about the manner in which Eoin Reddan had injected the pace in the first 10 minutes of the second half of last year’s final at the Millennium Stadium. Because it soon became apparent that if Reddan and the rest of Leinster had upped the tempo, it was predominantly down to the inspiration, both in words and actions, of Jonny Sexton from the moment the Leinster side returned to the dressing-room after a chastening first half experience.
Leinster trailed 22-6 at the interval and had been second best all over the field. But Northampton had no answer to Leinster’s – and for Leinster’s you could easily write Sexton’s – pace and power and mesmerising brilliance on the restart. Sexton scored two tries within the first 12 minutes and had five successful second half kicks for a personal total of 28 points on the day. This, his second try, was the moment that Northampton realised, almost palpably, that their goose was cooked.
