Leinster Lions Limp Out In Lansdowne Road

Leinster’s dream of Heineken Cup glory ended today in Lansdowne Road when they were beaten 21-14 by Perpiignan in a hugely disappointing semi-final.

Leinster led 3-0 at half time and scored the game’s opening try in the 57th minute when Denis Hickie stretched the French defence before delivering the scoring pass to Gordon D’Arcy. That put the home side into an 11-6 lead but minutes later the sides were level after Pascal Bomati scored on the right. Manny Edmonds saw his conversion hit the upright but he gave his side the lead with a penalty and then added the conversion to a try from replacement Marc dal Maso.

Leinster then needed two scores to snatch victory. One, a penalty, came from the boot of Nathan Spooner but they just didn’t have enough time to get the converted try they would have needed to force extra-time.