Aussie magic in Heineken Cup final
Toulon continued their emphatic season when they beat Saracens 23-6 in the Heineken Cup final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and two Aussies had something to do with it.
The game started like a battle of nervous enemies.
Saracens had kept Jonny Wilkinson in his half of the field away from their goal posts, but he made an impact at the half hour mark. At the back of a ruck he pointed to team mates Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell that something was on, and when a swarm of Saracens approached as the ball went to the left, he switched play to Giteau on the right.
Giteau hooked a flat kick to Mitchell, who took the ball on its high second bounce, and though grabbed by in the air he dished the ball back to Giteau backing up. Gits took the ball leaping at pace, Aussie Rules style above his head, and scored the first try of the match.
As commentator Miles Harrison said about the try:
Made in Australia, that one.
The score was 10-3 to Toulon at the break and on the hour mark Mitchell made another impact. Wilko passed a precise long ball in a tackle to Mitchell, who crouched to dodge a shooting tackle before passing to Basteraud, who set up a marvelous interplay between Fernandez-Lobbe and Juan Smith, for the Smith try.
Giteau nearly got a second try when Mermoz set up a flashing run by Bruni, but he held the ball too long and went into touch with Gits backing up.
Steffon Armitage got the man-of-the-match award but I thought that Juan Smith was the best.
Saracens could not repeat the form they had beating Clermont in the semi-final.
Toulon become the third team, after Leicester and Leinster, to retain the Heineken Cup. They didn’t look like doing so a few months ago after a sluggish loss to the Cardiff Blues in a pool game across the road at the Arms Park, but they were commanding in the second half of the final.
Drew Mitchell about to pass to Matt Giteau for meat
Next weekend these two richest clubs in their country will be contesting other finals. Saracens will want to finish their season by beating Northampton to win the Aviva Premiership.
Toulon will be attempting a double when they play defending champions Castres for the Top 14 trophy.
