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Tigers through to Euro finale
By Mike Hill May 1 2002
An intensely hard fought match was eventually decided by a monster 58 metre penalty goal that bounced off both the cross bar and left hand post before going over. The extent of the Leicester faithful’s delight was only matched by the despair on the faces of the Welsh fans.

For the second consecutive season Tigers have reached the final of the Heineken Cup and now only Munster stand in the way of an unprecedented double triumph.

For once Stephen Jones was more villain than hero as his normally reliable kicking game fell apart. Aside from his two missed penalty goals and a difficult drop goal attempt he was charged down on several occasions. Tigers back row hounded Jones in the same way as the French disrupted Wilkinson and the effect was just as pronounced. Corry, Back and Moody were quite simply magnificent and this weeks Man of the Match award is so difficult to call I’m going to award it to the entire back row.

Deano and Wells had obviously done their homework and stopped the Llanelli threat at source. First up tackling was awesome and the pack more than held their own in scrum and lineout. A little better handling in midfield and Tigers could have added a couple more tries to their total. As it was Leicester were restricted to a solo effort by Harry Ellis as Llanelli’s formidable defence held at bay the subsequent attacks.

The game started well for the Scarlets as they carried on from where they left off at Stradey Park. The forwards had the edge and Tigers were conceding penalties at the breakdown. By halftime Llanelli were leading 9-3 and the game seemed to be heading the same way as the fixture in Wales.

It wasn’t much of a spectacle either with both sides failing to find any fluency, running out of ideas and resorting to kicking the ball aimlessly down the middle of the pitch. Lewis Moody had made a good start tackling well and putting in some charging runs but when the ball was shifted wide time after time a knock on halted the move.

Deano’s halftime team talk obviously galvanised Leicester since we started with far more intensity and quickly pinned Llanelli back into their own half. The back row, Johnson and Rowntree kept driving the ball on to good effect. After a typically strong run by Freddie knocked Stephen Jones for six the forwards took the ball on close to the Llanelli 22.

It was from the ensuing ruck that Harry Ellis swung the match decisively in Tigers favourite. Picking up the ball and noticing the fringe defence had gone AWOL Ellis sprinted straight towards the line with only the returning full back to beat.

Realising the cover was going to catch him he dived early and slid over the line to send half the City Ground crowd delirious. Stuart Barnes criticised Deano for picking someone so young and inexperienced but if you’re good enough you’re old enough and Harry is certainly good enough and getting better every game.

The score at this point stood at 10 -9 in Leicester’s favour and they dominated territory and possession for the next twenty minutes but could find no way of scoring. Llanelli defended superbly and with discipline as they stubbornly refused to give away penalties in their own half. Tigers came close when Lewis Moody charged down a clearance and set up a ruck just yards from the try line but still the red wall refused to crumble.

Stephen Jones’ fourth penalty gave Llanelli a two point advantage which they desperately tried to cling on to for the remainder of the game. Mistakenly they stopped playing their normal game and instead of keeping the ball tight and going for further points they panicked and limited themselves to just kicking the ball away. This continued until McHugh penalised Martyn Madden for dropping the scrum and Stimpson took it upon himself to attempt a monster 58 metre penalty.

This was the last chance saloon for Tigers and in my mind exactly the right decision. Llanelli had given away so few penalties in the game that taking the option of a line out would more than likely have come to nothing. Tim is ice cool in pressured positions and they don’t come more pressured than this.

We all know how long Tim can kick so it wasn’t a surpise that he succeeded. What was a surprise is that the ball bounced off crossbar and post before dropping agonisingly over in front of the Llanelli fans. Llanelli seem haunted by freaky kicks after last season’s deflected drop goal against Gloucester settled the quarter final.

The delight on the faces of the normally dead pan Tigers players was indicative of the enormity of this result. To reach the final again is a marvellous achievement but the players (and supporters) will only be happy if they retain the title and once more rewrite the record books.

Munster should pose just as stern a test as Llanelli and will bring with them tens of thousands of vocal passionate fans. I think their forwards are not quite as good as Llanelli but their backline is better and they play with more imagination. It should be an intriguing contest set against the backdrop of a splendid new stadium in a city steeped in rugby folklore. Who could ask for more?

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