I don't know whether it's the after effects of red wine or the sheer panic that Leinster almost suffered a defeat at the hands of Montpellier only for Jonathan "cool as a fish's fart" Sexton's dying seconds penalty to go safely over the posts that has me feeling a little tender today. From the start Montpellier went at it with all guns blazing, the pool C clash saw Sexton edging the lead with two penalties in the first few minutes with a retaliation from the French boys to make it 6-3.
A block from the French side resulted in a try by Fulgence Ouedraogo, the Montpellier captain had now given them the lead, his try being converted by Benoit Paillaugueto give the home side a lead of 13-6 at the half-time break. Their devil-may-care attitude saw them almost go over the line in the first few moments of the second half, Leinster got lucky by turning it in their favour but were severely punished by conceding a penalty and the boot of Trinh-Duc made it 16-6.
If there's one thing about Leinster, it's a good strong comeback, winning the Heineken Cup twice in three years isn't an easy task and Leinster seem to fight tooth and nail when their backs are up against the ropes. At the 66th minute, Sean Cronin, who had come on to replace Richardt Strauss got over the line and with a conversion from Sexton, the boys from our fair city were now just three points down after a dismal first half. It was shit or get off the pot time when a final penalty was awarded to the Leinster lads against Remy Martin, Sexton, the little hero that he is, put another three points on the board from a tight angled penalty to upset the apple-cart and give a final score of 16-16, not the finest of matches by a long shot but better than going home humiliated!
A try coming from Tiernan O’Halloran and converted by Nikora saw Connacht take the lead at 10-6 before another penalty was awarded to Quins and Evans brought the score back to a one point difference. A try came for Quins when Karl Dickson shot over the line, with Evans' conversion and yet another penalty, the home team took the lead to 19-10 at half-time.
The second half saw Gavin Duffy find his voice and silence the Quins crowd by bringing the team from the whesht of Ireland back into it, O'Connor converted to bring the score to 19-17. Connacht gave away the match by giving away two more penalties, which saw Evans pop them neatly over the posts giving a final score of 25-17.
Over at Ravenhill, Ulster were busy entertaining Clermont, an early penalty for the French visitors saw Parra chip it over, veering over too far, and letting the Ulstermen breathe a sigh of relief. They weren't so lucky when Noa Nakaitachi got through the Ulster defence to put five points on the board. Parra couldn't kick a habit and the conversion didn't come for the Frenchies.
The first points for Ulster came for a penalty on Clermont's behalf when they couldn't hold up in the scrum and Humphries kicked over the posts to make it 5-3. They couldn't hold onto this two point difference however and a penalty awarded to Clermont saw Skrela kick for three points making the score 8-3.Two more penalties on either side saw a half-time score of 11-6.
The second half went in Ulster's favour, after missing one penalty, Humphries made sure he didn't miss the next and brought the score to 11-9. The kicker then went over the line and converted his own try to make it 16-11, final score.
Possibly one of the best matches of the weekend was the meeting of Munster and finalists Norhampton Saints at Thomand Park. If ever there was a man who can handle pressure it's Ronan O' Gara. The game was opened up with a try by Damain Varley and a conversion by ROG, Saints retaliated with Ashton (ugh) going over the line minutes later but Dougie Howlett cancelled that one out just before the half-time whistle blew. Ryan Lamb kicked over two penalties for the Saints in the first half also, leaving the score 14-13 in Munster's favour.
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