With 10 minutes left, a nine-point lead didn’t look so convincing, not with Exeter winning a penalty in Leinster’s 22 and looking desperate to make it count. Given that they needed to score twice to win, kicking the points was the wise option. But no, Alec Hepburn tapped and put his head down.
This is where teams fear the Chiefs, the part of the game where they routinely turn pressure into points. This time, they lacked their normal composure. After Hepburn’s initial surge, Jannes Kirsten picked and ploughed straight into team-mate, Sam Simmonds. Penalty Leinster, pressure lifted. A big moment .
Getting those moments right is what separates those teams with a track record of success. Exeter came into this game as European champions but as their coach Rob Baxter pointed out before kick-off, this was only their third European quarter-final. It showed.
To win from 14 points down, and to do so without their game-manager Johnny Sexton, Leinster needed all of their composure and nous, as well as the finishing power of their two wings. They also won it in the video analysis suite.
Remarkably, that late charge by Hepburn was only the second time in the game that Exeter had been allowed an attacking platform in their opponents’ 22 — and the first of those had resulted in a try for their flanker, Dave Ewers.
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In general, Leinster’s tactics were spot on. They kicked long, chased hard, went hard at the breakdown, where Ronan Kelleher was exceptionally effective. They generally found favour with referee Mathieu Raynal in this area of the game and this was critical to the outcome.
On top of that, they barely missed a beat when Sexton went off. To score off the first play after their skipper’s departure, with Ross Byrne slotting in seamlessly to set up Jordan Larmour’s first try, was another huge moment.
Fears that Leinster might have been under-cooked were justified during a calamitous opening. It seemed like they came off second- best in every collision, while some of their execution was schoolboyish.
Hugo Keenan made more mistakes in the first eight minutes than he has made in the entire season — a missed tackle on Tom O’Flaherty, a bomb fumbled, which led indirectly to O’Flaherty’s second try. And Keenan wasn’t alone in this sloppiness.
And then they just seemed to click into normal service. Maybe it’s worth remembering that they have been in similar corners before. The last time these sides met, at the Aviva Stadium three seasons ago, Exeter flew into a 17-3 lead. Sexton was gone before half-time on that occasion also, while two of his team-mates had spells in the bin. Leinster won 25-17, with Byrne steering them home. That sort of experience must do wonders for your self-belief.
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Here, the catalyst for their turnaround was an unlikely one. James Lowe may have started the season as a Lions contender but so miserable was his Six Nations form that many Leinster fans would have started Dave Kearney yesterday.
You sense that the quality of Lowe’s performance is often dictated by the nature of his first involvement. If he misses a tackle early on, he could be vulnerable for 80 minutes. If his first intervention is an attacking one, he can illuminate the contest.
Here, his first touch almost brought a try for Leinster, as he powered through his opposite number Olly Woodburn and then found Keenan with an outrageous basketball pass inside.
Keenan couldn’t ground the ball but Leinster continued to probe the left touchline and had their reward as Lowe got on the end of his full-back’s exceptional off-load.
As the contest developed, Leinster were led by the power and energy of their back row, who outplayed highly-rated opponents. Rhys Ruddock’s footwork and power made sure that he almost always made metres after contact, even through some frightening collisions. Once again, Josh van der Flier accelerated onto the ball impressively and tackled tirelessly.
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But for Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster, perhaps the most satisfying individual performance was from Byrne, who had to survive a physical battering but distributed beautifully and kicked six from seven to keep nudging Leinster forward.
This evening they’ll know the identity of their semi-final opponents and the location of that game three weekends from now. With Sexton failing a HIA, there is some doubt about his availability. Byrne’s performance here makes that less of a worry than it once might have been.
