A fine margin between sporting glory and failure.
Just about every man, woman, child and cat that watched Leinster’s 25-20 defeat to Toulon will tell you that Ian Madigan’s intercepted pass, which led to a Bryan Habana try in extra time, was a crucial blow.
With Leinster trailing 18-15 but playing with the extra man, the Leinster centre forced the issue as he tried to give his side an overlap down the right wing. Habana pounced and, 90 seconds later, after a Leigh Halfpenny conversion, the scoreline read 25-15. A molehill had become a mountain.
There were many other reasons why Leinster lost their semi-final – missed drop goals, Cian Healy’s needless penalty concession in front of the posts, zero line breaks from the Leinster team – but Madigan will have to wear this defeat for a while to come.
Writing for Rugbyrama, Gaspard Augendre declares, ‘The interception of Bryan Habana, on an error of judgement Madigan, literally murdered Leinstermen just before the [extra-time] break.’
La Depeche, who claim Leinster almost caused the French side ‘a nervous breakdown’, are a little more sympathetic about ‘poor Madigan’ but note that his error came from one of the only passes he threw in the match [in fact, he threw six passes].
The paper was not the only one to bemoan the quality of the match itself, played out in front of 36,000 people in the 67,000-seater Stade Vélodrome. Ivan Petros, a writer with Midi Olympique, feels the semi was ‘a sad spectacle’.
Petros is not complimentary about Leinster’s ultra-conservative, ultra-restrictive game-plan. ‘Their one risk [Madigan’s pass] was picked off,’ he writes.
Petros praised “giant” Devin Toner, high-ball king Rob Kearney and ‘menace at the breakdown’ Sean O’Brien.
Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal was still thrumming in a state of euphoria as he faced the media after the game. He proclaimed:
‘If the drop goal (from Jimmy Gopperth in the 78th minute) is five inches to the left, Leinster may be in the final… I heard that the Leinster was not the team it once was… No, it’s a great, great team. It is rare that a team makes us endure miseries like that.’
Toulon prop Alexandre Mennini told French Eurosport that some of his team-mates, who have won “everything” in the game, were ‘celebrating like kids’ in the post-match dressing room.
Matt Giteau told L’Equipe, ‘Now we play Clermont which, for me, is the best team in Europe. But it’s true, aiming for a hat-trick in European competition is what truly motivates us. It is a dream for all of us.’
Toulon coach Bernard Laporte told the same paper that heart, desire and enthusiasm are ‘the strength and cent of this team’.
Finally, it is great to see a respected site such as Rugbyrama giving a shout-out to SportsJOE as we cursed that pitch-invading cat to damnation.
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