No8 Jordan Crane kicked the remarkable winner as Leicester Tigers roared into the Heineken Cup final following the competition’s first-ever penalty shoot-out.
Crane settled one of the most dramatic ties in Heineken Cup history, slotting over Leicester’s seventh penalty after Martyn Williams crucially missed. It was heartache for Cardiff Blues who took the game to extra-time with two sensational late tries in the final minutes of normal time after Leicester were hit with two yellow cards.
And after both sides drew a blank in extra time, they also had the chance to win the shoot-out after Johne Murphy was first to miss with Leicester’s fourth penalty, only for opposite number Tom James to pull his effort right of the posts. Scott Hamilton kept his cool to send the shoot out into sudden death.
Tom Shanklin and Richie Rees hit the mark for Cardiff and Aaron Mauger and Craig Newby were successful for Leicester before Williams missed and Crane hit home. It was a remarkable end to end historic cup tie that was nip and tuck from the first minute.
Leicester led 13-12 at the break but will have felt it should have been more after dominating the first 40 minutes. Both teams fed off the expectant atmosphere inside the Millennium Stadium but with the majority of the 44,212 crowd roaring on the home side, it was the Blues who twice threatened in a lively opening through breaks by Tom James and Williams.
Leicester scrum-half Julien Dupuy missed with his first three attempts while Blues full-back Ben Blair fired his side into the lead on 13 minutes. However Cardiff suffered a major set back when they lost captain Paul Tito, an inspiration for the Blues this season, to injury.
And after weathering the early storm, Leicester used all their experience at this level of a competition they have won twice before, to take control of the tie. Geordan Murphy was in top form and it took a superb last-ditch tackle by Maama Molitika to prevent the Ireland full-back from crossing.
But the opening try looked on the cards before Toby Flood’s delightful flick pass sent Hamilton surging over on 22 minutes.
Dupuy finally found his range with the conversion and soon opened a 10-3 lead after Tauf’au Filise’s high tackle on the excellent Tom Croft.
The Blues defended for their lives and were rewarded with three penalties, two from distance by Halfpenny either side of Blair’s effort, to take a 12-10 lead against the run of play. But a rash moment by inexperienced scrum-half Richie Rees left Nick Robinson stranded deep inside his territory and Dupuy stroked Leicester back in front two minutes before half time.
Leicester may have been disappointed by the narrow margin of their lead, but it was soon eight points. Johne Murphy broke two tackles on the left-hand touchline before Dupuy and Flood combined to send Geordan Murphy under the posts.
The conversion was followed by two more penalties as Leicester steadily turned the screw on an out-of-sorts Blues team at 26-12. But the game took a dramatic twist in the space of six minutes as Leicester saw flanker Craig Newby and then Geordan Murphy sin-binned.
Leicester dug deep to hold out for four minutes with just 13 men, but no sooner had Newby returned than Cardiff stunned Leicester with two quick-fire tries.
Roberts carved open Leicester as he galloped in from 30 metres before his break from the re-start opened space for James to scorch in from inside his own half. Blair converted both expertly from the left-hand touchline to send this remarkable cup tie into extra-time.
Having given everything to the cause, both sets of players were forced to haul themselves off the Millennium Stadium turf for one final giant effort.
But with the teams deadlocked, neither could conjure the winning points as Johne Murphy and Aaron Mauger failed with drop goal attempts either side of half-time as this epic clash crept into a penalty shoot-out.
Blair, Robinson, Halfpenny and Ceri Sweeney converted for Cardiff but Dupuy, Sam Vesty, Murphy and Hamilton responded for Leicester before the sudden death drama.
