Nicked by the Tigers

Leicester 21 Stade Francais 20

Leicester's iron will

squeezed them through

the mightiest of European

matches yesterday,

leaving the French no

choice but to start their

boycott seven weeks earlier

than planned.

A late try behind the posts from

substitute wing Tom Varndell

climaxed an unprecedented

treble for England’s muchmaligned

Premiership clubs.

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It secured a semi-final of towering

dimension against the stylish

Scarlets from Llanelli just a long

drop kick from Welford

Road at the Walkers Stadium on

April 21.

The most extraordinary of

Heineken Cup weekends ended with

English teams — Leicester,

Northampton and Wasps — occupying

three of the last four places, an

astonishing feat given their troubled

start to the tournament six months

ago.

For the first time in its history, the

semi-finals are a French-free zone,

Leicester summoning every last

drop of their indomitable spirit to

win a tie when it could just as easily

have gone the other way.

If the Tigers overcome Llanelli at

the home of Leicester City FC — a

very big ‘if’ given the Scarlets’ irresistible

form in eliminating first

Toulouse, then Munster — and go

on to win their third European final,

they will never have a closer shave

than the one Stade gave them.

"We just nicked it," said Tigers’

captain Martin Corry, in a typically

frank appraisal of a wonderfully

gripping advertisement for the

European game.

There were times when it took so much ‘nicking’ that even the Tiger

faithful began to doubt if beating

the pink Parisians would prove too

much.

David Skrela’s soaring 40-yard

drop goal had given them the rare

luxury of a six-point lead which left

Leicester needing a try — not easy

at the best of times, let alone against

the best full back in the world.

It was just Leicester’s luck that

Juan Martin Hernandez chose the

occasion to produce one of the

greatest individual displays the

competition has had the privilege of

witnessing.

On top of everything else, it

included a tackle of such enormity

that it justifies comparison

alongside JPR Williams’ famous

shoulder-charging of the France

wing Jean-Francois Gourdon when

Wales won the Grand Slam at

Cardiff Arms Park in 1978.

Hernandez, whose strength had

taken him through tackles for a

scintillating 60-yard try to put Stade

ahead for the first time, found

himself all alone to face every full

back’s worst nightmare — 18st of

Samoan muscle thundering towards

the corner flag in the shape of

Alesana Tuilagi.

Against all the odds, the lighter

Argentine timed his tackle to

perfection, smashing the Leicester

wing into touch. If ever a tackle

deserved to win a match, that was

it.

As Skrela nudged the match

Stade’s way and Le Championnat’s

premier team battened down the

hatches to bring Llanelli to Paris,

Leicester found the will and, with it,

a crack in the French facade.

Danny Hipkiss’ break was enough

to put Varndell shooting along the

right touchline with the presence of

mind to run round behind the posts

and make Andy Goode’s conversion

a formality.

They still had to negotiate eight

more minutes and an almost

relentless barrage as Stade went

through multiple phases in search of

the platform for the decisive drop

goal.

At the critical time, they lost some

of the composure which for so long

had threatened to be Leicester’s

undoing.

Instead of biding their time and

moving closer, as Martin Johnson’s

England had famously done during

the last seconds of the 2003 World

Cup final in Sydney against

Australia, Stade tried three longrange

drops at goal and missed the

lot.

By snatching at two of those

attempts, the imperious Hernandez

showed there was something he

could not do after all.

Leicester, magnificently served

by a pack all the more formidable

for Ben Kay’s towering contribution,

kept their nerve and their

discipline.

They stood four-square through a

tempestuous finale, repelling an

almost endless number of Stade

drives and forcing substitute lock

Arnaud Marchois into the knock-on

which confirmed the Tigers’

passage.

"We tried our best and we couldn’t

have gone any closer,’ said Stade

head coach Fabien Galthie before

making an oblique reference to his

country’s boycott.

"So now there are no French teams

left in Europe. Maybe this is a

prelude to next season."

Leicester, behind three times at

5-8, 11-14 and 14-17, were gracious in

victory.

"I think that we were lucky to win

but, had we lost, I’d have said that

we were unlucky," said head coach

Pat Howard. "We did score two tries

to one and we have beaten an

outstanding side."

Suddenly, European rugby has

shrunk.

For the next three weeks, the semifinals

will revolve around venues in

two cities in the English Midlands —

Coventry and Leicester.