ONE DECADE AGO, this weekend of April 26 and 27 2003 held so much promise.
It was a weekend of Ireland versus France. And boy did we fancy our chances of an Irish Heineken Cup final in Lansdowne Road.
Munster, the coming force in European rugby were on the road in France.
Leinster, with so much potential still unfulfilled, welcomed Perpignan to the grand old venue in D4.
The Saturday afternoon began with no reason to dampen the expectation: Munster forced their way into a 6-0 lead in Toulouse and two more Ronan O’Gara drop-goals in the second half allowed them keep the French at bay a little longer.
In the 75th minute, however, Toulouse took the lead for the first time in the game.
Freddy Michalak’s dive into the left-hand corner sent the country’s dream final into a tailspin.
O’Gara would step up to the plate like only he can, but on this occasion his drop-goal attempts were wide of the mark and Munster tasted their second semi-final defeat in France by the narrowest of margins, 13-12.
YouTube credit: elgringotrenteetun
So the responsibility of denying France what we had craved fell instead to Leinster. And again, things went pretty okay for a half.
Brian O’Meara hit the only score of the first half, but by the break Brian O’Driscoll had already been forced off through injury and even when Gordon D’Arcy gave the hosts an 11-6 lead, USAP did not panic.
Like their Munster brethren, Leinster would only surrender the lead in the final 10 minutes and Marc dal Maso’s late try sealed their fate, a 14-21 defeat.
If you really want to watch it again, there’s a super grainy video here. But this was a weekend which gave Irish rugby a wake-up call. Nothing less than 80 minutes of the very best we can offer would be enough.
Both provinces would soon realise their lofty ambitions, but a European final between our leading two provinces remains elusive.
