Leinster beat Harlequins

Leinster withstood a sustained final-quarter onslaught from Harlequins to claim a 6-5 victory at The Stoop on Sunday, thus setting up a mouth-watering an All-Ireland Heineken Cup showdown with Munster at Croke Park next month.

Michael Cheika’s men have long been vaunted for their attacking prowess but it was their defensive excellence which shone through in an absorbing last eight encounter in which they were forced to long play long periods under siege inside their own half.

Two penalties from Felipe Contepomi had helped them into a six-point advantage at the break, but Harlequins’s incessant second-half pressure looked set to be rewarded when Chris Brown crashed over on 65 minutes.

However, Chris Malone, on as replacement for the injured Nick Evans, missed the subsequent conversion attempt to leave Quins trailing by a point.

Malone then limped off injured and Brown, who had been entrusted with the goal-kicking responsibilities as a consequence, then squandered a penalty attempt on 75 minutes before a hobbling Evans, reintroduced as a blood replacement for Tom Williams, failed with a last-gasp drop goal attempt.

The game may have yielded only three scores but it was utterly absorbing from start to finish.

Defensively, both sides were excellent and Leinster were particularly impenetrable.

They should have fallen behind seven minutes when an awesome hit from Jordan Turner-Hall - who was impressive throughout - on Felipe Contepomi eventually forced the Argentine into being penalized for holding on.

The resulting kick on goal was from a central position and no more than 30 meters out, but Evans inexplicably pulled his kick to the left.

Just over ten minutes later, Contepomi confidently stroked Leinster into the lead after James Percival had been deemed guilty of not rolling away.

That temporarily settled Leinster and they enjoyed a brief period of dominance.

However, for the most part, they were struggling. Their kicking game was particularly poor, with their star duo Contepomi and O’Driscoll the most culpable in this regard.

Harlequins slowly took control of the game and looked menacing every single time Turner-Hall took the ball up the middle.

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Nster.com