Champions: Leinster
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Leinster became only the second team to win successive Heineken Cup titles as they dominated Ulster 42-14 in the 2012 Final at Twickenham on Saturday.
Flanker Sean O'Brien, props Cian Healy and Heinke Van der Merwe, and hooker Sean Cronin scored the tries as the champions won again.
A record European Cup Final crowd of 81,774 watched another outstanding showing from Leinster, who were too strong for their rivals.
Leinster started this private Irish knees up in London as favourites but it was their rivals who drew first blood with early points on the board.
Ulster applied plenty of pressure from the kick off, forcing Leinster back on their heels and eventually conceded a penalty to the kicking Ruan Pienaar.
But it did not take very long for the reigning champions to switch up a gear or two and a strong forward surge in the thirteenth minute resulted in O'Brien just managing to touch the ball down on the white line as he was tackled.
Welsh referee Nigel Owens asked for official confirmation from upstairs and television replays showed the forward had scored a try which Jonathan Sexton converted.
Sexton missed a penalty moments later as the game opened up for a spell of thrilling, flowing running rugby with both sides anxious to run the ball at every opportunity.
Sexton went close but was tackled before he reached the line and the Ulster defence had to fly to the other side of the field to stop another attack as the pressure was turned up.
A superb Brian O'Driscoll inside pass after a mini-break in midfield opened up the Ulster defence, and the ball was finally switched to Healy who was tackled on the line but his momentum enabled him to ground the ball for a second. Sexton converted for a 14-3 lead.
Ulster failed to make their heavy pressure tell when youngster Paddy Jackson hooked a drop-goal attempt to the left. But a stunning 50-metre penalty from scrum-half Pienaar gave them hope on the stroke of half-time as they went into the break eight points adrift.
Leinster piled on the pressure at the start of the second half with another forward-dominated move ending with referee Owens awarding a penalty try as Ulster deliberately collapsed a maul inches from their line. Sexton converted for a convincing 21-6 lead.
Ulster withdrew fly-half Jackson from the front line and replaced him with experienced Ian Humphreys. But one sensed that the trophy had already slipped through their fingers.
Pienaar and Sexton exchanged further penalties before Ulster finally broke through the thick blue line of defence. Constant pressure from one side of the field to the other eventually saw the ball floated from Paddy Wallace to Tuohy and the big lock dived in for a try on the hour.
Sexton's second penalty of the game stretched Leinster's lead to 13 points with 10 minutes remaining. Humphreys had to be replaced himself by Paul Marshall when he was injured.
Ulster had full-back Stefan Terblanche sent to the sin-bin for a bad off-the-ball tackle and Sexton kicked a third penalty before a fifth try in the final minute - after Van der Merwe had scored on the right - from replacement Cronin on the other touchline finished the job.
The scorers:
For Leinster:
Tries: O'Brien, Healy, Penalty, Van der Merwe, Cronin
Con: Sexton 3, McFadden
Pen: Sexton 3
For Ulster:
Try: Tuohy
Pen: Pienaar 3
Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Isa Nacewa, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Brad Thorn, 4 Leo Cullen (capt), 3 Mike Ross, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Nathan White, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Shane Jennings, 21 John Cooney, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 David Kearney.
Ulster: 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Craig Gilroy, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Chris Henry, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Johann Muller (capt), 3 John Afoa, 2 Rory Best, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Nigel Brady, 17 Paddy McAllister, 18 Declan Fitzpatrick, 19 Lewis Stevenson, 20 Willie Faloon, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Ian Humphreys, 23 Adam D'Arcy.
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France), Jérôme Garces (France)
Comments
melkdave says...
Well what a fantastic game ,to watch ,both teams battaling hard .But in the end Leinsters sheer class was just to much ,and their ruthlessness ,in just going on and on at a hig tempo to score those late tries Well done both teams for providing an excellant spectacle opf rugby.Hoping now that the Pro12 and AP finals are just as great to watch
Posted 13:04 20th May 2012
leinsterblue says...
fantastic game...thought that even when we were 24-14 up, Ulster were still in with a shout, but they kinda fell apart when Terblanche got binned and maybe the 28 point wining margin did flatter us a little bit..having said that, we were great yesterday - O'Brien put in another great performance...but the standout has to be Brad Thorn - wonder could we convince him to hang on for a full season...
looking forwards to next Sunday in the RDS..Ospreys will be a formidable challenge..
Posted 12:49 20th May 2012
2EyedKiwi says...
Brad Thorn. Legend.
Posted 08:54 20th May 2012
lacroix says...
dreadfully poor quality game . ulster were dreadful, and leinster not nearly as good as they or their fans think they are.
Posted 08:48 20th May 2012
Jmanngod says...
What will Brad Thorn decide to win next?
Posted 08:16 20th May 2012
jonesy2 says...
thorny!!!! no words are worthy of that champion
Posted 06:22 20th May 2012
cuw3100 says...
Editor Planet Rugby: Is there anything on this pLanet Brad Thorn has not won??
What a man in league and union;
Posted 04:40 20th May 2012
lostprofit says...
@makemehappy
Haters going to hate. Id love to know who you support.
Not a three time championship winning team I suspect.
I love how green with envy you are :)
Posted 04:01 20th May 2012
aweblax says...
Well done Leinster, " Thorny you rock".
Posted 01:14 20th May 2012
trelawney says...
Thank you to both teams for an axcellent cup final. Also to Nigel Owens who did not over officiate.
Posted 00:52 20th May 2012
griffi60 says...
@makemehappy, your comments are ridiculous, please stop posting.
Well played Leinster, you have an excellent team and fully deserved to win. As an Ulster fan it was hard to take at Twickers today but as usual our fans were excellent. I don't want to slate Jackson but he didn't have a good match, hardly surprising seeing what little experience he has at provincial level never mind heineken cup.
The score line was probably a bit much but I can't take anything anyway from Leinster, ruthless until the end and I have no doubt you'll do the double next weekend.
As for next year, Bowe and Wilson coming back, Jared Payne back to fitness.....Bring it on!
Posted 00:40 20th May 2012
Zambokke says...
Maybe Leinster could now play the Lions or the Blues?
Posted 00:17 20th May 2012
JMehrtens says...
@powerplay
Indeed he has a lot of championships
State of origin shield the most incredible one, which he won/retained twice before winning a single state of Origin Match.(and after losing several matches)
Posted 23:39 19th May 2012
kiwilad says...
Stag, what a pleasant surprise it is, to see you criticise something or someone other than a Kiwi...
Posted 23:14 19th May 2012
Crunchfit says...
Brilliant game. So many standout performances. Very, very satisfied.
Posted 23:08 19th May 2012
ciaran1792 says...
@Makemehappy: No no quite clearly Leinster are the true champions, because they beat Clermont and won in Marseilles and competed in the final today. Hence the term champions there is no doubt of it and I am sure if they played s15 they would be a fine addition to the competition placing in the top 8 then the knock out rugby would begin the thing that Leinster are one for the best at. Now when a ref has a bad impact on a game I say it Wayne Barnes should have sent Leo Cullen off against Clermont for 10 mins. He let him off because Zirikyashvilli dived looking for the penalty and made a meal of it and he let Clermont off so many times when they played the ball off their feet. Suck it up Leinster are the champs 09 11 and 12 get used to it because I am sure it wont be their last u can count on it.
Posted 23:05 19th May 2012
Jmanngod says...
might be time to bring those kiwi coaches back to a proper competition
Posted 22:20 19th May 2012
Ulsterman1999 says...
Well...What can I say? A fantastic result for Leinster. My hearty congratulations to all involved.
As a Ulster supporter it was difficult to watch but it was great lesson for our boys. Leinster took their chances extremely well. Their set piece was very good, their ability to contest the breakdown was impressive and their defence was outstanding. They had a ferocious bench and they despatched it ruthlessly.
Despite the result we should take great heart from this season. We emerged from the group of death, beating LT and CA. We became only the second side to beat Munster at home in the HCup. We reached the semi-final for the first time in 13 years and finally we have experienced a European final and the lessons which result from it.
Let¿s learn the lessons and move on.
I truly believe this is the beginning of something special. We have strengthened our squad for next year. Wilson and Bowe will return home to Ravenhill and Payne from injury. Pienaar and Afoa are at Ravenhill for another two seasons. The academy players are slowly filtering into the squad; Jackson, Henderson and Birch come immediately to mind.
We will have a new coach, a forwards expert, who will hopefully continue to develop both our set piece and the academy players coming through. Our young props such as Macklin, McAllister and Fitzpatrick will gain tremendously under the tutelage of Anscombe, Afoa and Court.
Redevelopment of Ravenhill begins!
From an Irish perspective, Cave, Tuohy, Henry and Gilroy have all shown themselves as serious contenders for the trip to New Zealand.(In addition to in to Ferris, Court, Best and Trimble.) Fitzpatrick too should go as a future replacement for Mike Ross.
Roll on next season. I for one can't wait!
SUFTUM
Posted 22:08 19th May 2012
sextons_on_fire says...
What a day to be a Leinster fan!!! Amazing! Schmidty deserves a knighthood...Sir Josef of Schmidt hahahahaha BOOM
@makemehappy
It's just blah blah blah blah blah isn't it hahahahaa BOOM
Posted 21:54 19th May 2012
Rosbif says...
Can't remember seeing that kind of scoreline in a major final. Well done Leinster!! Tempo, guile, accuracy, conviction, immense physicality especially at the tackle area, the list goes on and on. Happy days :)
@makemehappy, it certainly feels like the "final" may indeed have been a few weeks back in Bordeaux. But Leinster showed they are true greats today.....(having said that, I wonder if Fofana was watching the game hidden behind his sofa?)
Posted 21:43 19th May 2012