Bienvenue à tous les fans de rugby de la France
Amlin Challenge Cup result,
Leinster rugby win, Stade Francis, RDS, Rugby Ireland, Heineken Cup
Leinster 34 Stade Francais
13: A trophy is a trophy, and the handsome Amlin Challenge Cup was won in the
grand manner. For the first time the final was held in Ireland, and for the
first time there was an Irish winner, while as an aside Connacht were spared
returning to their customary Euro outlet as, for the third year running,
Leinster earned them a place in next season’s Heineken Cup.
Stade Francais, themselves
in the last chance saloon for their season and their hopes of a Heineken Cup
place next season, never went away and showed more spirit than perhaps might
have been expected given they were behind from the third minute. Indeed, a graph
of the evening’s share of possession and territory would have been hugely in
the visitors’ favour, but their accuracy and cutting edge was nothing like
Leinster’s.
Although Joe Schmidt might
not have enjoyed such a demanding defensive workout before facing Ulster in the
Rabo Pro12 final here next Saturday, there were so many plusses to Leinster’s
night, and one or two for the Lions as well.
Leinster claimed the first
half of a possible double while still juggling their resources with a brand of
rugby that showed why they remain one of the leading sides in Europe. Against
that, Seán O’Brien again hobbled off with what appeared like a recurrence of
his calf problems, while Fergus McFadden was stretchered off with what appeared
a neck injury, hopefully as a precaution.
Leinster demonstrated
accuracy and purpose as they used the full width of the pitch. Just as
important was their shape in defending. Sergio Parisse was a danger in outside
channels before fading, but Julien Dupuy’s service was too ponderous and
outhalf Jules Plisson played too much in front of a Leinster defence, whose
line speed was markedly up on last week.
A key man in all of this was
Jonny Sexton, who on his penultimate match for his native province before
apparently coming under the wing of Ronan O’Gara at Racing, showed superb
tackling, passing, running, supporting and kicking out of hand as well as six
from six.
Jamie Heaslip wasn’t far
behind, Rob Kearney’s confidence grew some more, Ian Madigan sparkled, Isaac
Boss’s 80-minute efforts were close to extraordinary while as with the London
Irish-bound Jamie Hagan (whose impact was immediate and nowadays, positive) the
Munster-bound Andrew Conway is also playing his best rugby.
Fears of the advance sale of
tickets, with only 1200 raffled amongst Leinster’s 13,000-plus Supporters Club,
might dilute the occasion, were unfounded. Blue was the dominant colour on a
sun-kissed, carnival-like evening, Stade’s pink-clad band at one end being
rivalled by a 21-piece brass band at the other in berets playing a mixture of
Irish, French and Basque music.
In keeping with the Amlin’s
freer spirit, both teams used the full parameters of the pitch from the off,
with the home crowd quickly invited into the game by one of Leinster’s
blistering, high tempo starts. From a lineout on halfway on the left, off the
top ball from Devin Toner, Leinster went wide to McFadden. From the recycle,
Madigan fed Boss as first receiver who passed inside for one of Nacewa’s
trademark trailers close to an unmanned ruck. Critically, from his clean line
break, and typical of Sexton, the outhalf was in support, as was that tryscorer
par excellence, Madigan, for the run-in under the posts.
As critical as the score,
was the defending on the line. Geoffrey Doumayrou showed good footwork deep
inside the Leinster 22 and Julien Dupuy and Jules Plisson explored an unmanned
blindside, before Sexton and Nacewa tackled the outhalf into touch. With the
Stade scrum acquiring an edge on what was a difficult night for Mike Ross,
Leinster withstood another battering, during which Sexton and, crucially,
O’Brien held up Paul Williams over the line.
Whereupon, Leinster struck
stealthily again. From a superbly hanging box-kick by Boss, Conway claimed the
ball above Jeremy Sinzelle and just as sharply offloaded to the supporting Seán
Cronin for him to run in the try. Sexton converted and after a penalty by
Jérôme Porical, Leinster struck again.
Sexton, having found Nacewa
with the preceding kick-off, delivered a perfectly weighted crosskick that was
again plucked out of the air by the winger, who had the strength and presence
of mind to offload out of Hugo Bonneval’s tackle for Kearney to dive over the
pair of them. Sexton tagged on the touchline conversion for a laugh.
After another Plisson
penalty on half-time, the second-half skirmishes weren’t helped by Nigel Owens
being seemingly oblivious to the offside law, as Leinster soaked up pressure to
land a couple of penalties by Sexton, the second after Hagan’s introduction at
scrumtime.
Leinster’s line speed eased
off, despite seasoned reinforcements. Paul Warwick, injecting more tempo on his
last Stade outing in his latest incarnation of scrumhalf, and Plisson went
wide, where Bonneval, adding a vastly superior threat when switched to
fullback, put Sinzelle over.
Plisson converted from the
touchline and Stade came knocking again, but Shane Jennings hacked on another
loose pass and from scarcely their fourth foray forward Kearney showed real
pace on an arcing outside run only to be denied the try by a marginal
foot-in-touch call.
The crowd demanded another
try, and after hard straight running by Boss, Nacewa, and Shane Jennings, Cian
Healy applied the coup de grace.
Scoring sequence: 3 mins
Madigan try, Sexton con 7-0; 20 mins Cronin try, Sexton con 14-0; 26 mins
Porical pen 14-3; 28 mins Kearney try, Sexton con 21-3; 40 mins Porical pen
21-6; (half-time 21-6); 54 mins Sexton pen 24-6; 63 mins Sexton pen 27-6; 78
mins Healy try, Sexton con 34-6.
Leinster Rugby: Robert
Kearney; Andrew Conway, Fergus McFadden, Ian Madigan, Isa Nacewa; Jonathan
Sexton, Isaac Boss; Jack McGrath, Sean Cronin, Mike Ross, Quinn Roux, Devin
Toner, Rhys Ruddock, Sean O’Brien, Jamie Heaslip (capt). Replacements _
Richardt Strauss for Cronin, Cian Healy for McGrath (both 52 mins), Shane
Jennings for O’Brien (both 57 mins), Jamie Hagan for Ross, Leo Cullen for Toner
(both 60 mins), Andrew Goodman for McFadden (67 mins), David Kearney for R
Keanrey (78 mins).
Stade Francais:: Jérôme
Porical; Jeremy Sinzelle, Geoffrey Doumayrou, Paul Williams, Hugo Bonneval;
Jules Plisson, Julien Dupuy; Aled De Malmanche, Laurent Sempere, Rabah Slimani,
Scott Lavalla, Gerhard Mostert, David Lyons, Pierre Rabadan, Sergio Parisse (capt).
Replacements _ Stanley Wright for De Malmanche (30 mins), Paul Warwick for
Dupuy (half-time), Waisea Nayacalevu for Porical (56 mins), Anton van Zyl for
Lavalla (67 mins), Julien Arias for Doumayrou (73 mins).
Not used - Remy Bonfils,
Jeremy Becasseau, Lei Tomiki.
Referee: Nigel Owens
(Wales).