Pluck of the Irish not enough as Crane lifts Leicester to glory

A knuckle-whiteningly slim margin was apt at the conclusion of a domestic season hallmarked by tight contests but to Leicester – defeated three times in the previous four Premiership finals – one point was as good as a landslide. London Irish were devastated to lose, naturally, but they tried several game plans in one match and still could not conquer a club and a squad who were too strong for them. Just too strong.

Geordan Murphy, a wonderful attacking force in his dozen seasons as an Irishman in the English East Midlands, was a defensive colossus for the Tigers as they won the league for an eighth time and he and his side now move to Edinburgh in the Heineken Cup on Saturday to attempt to complete a remarkable double.

"We'll have to raise our game," Murphy said, and it may be true of the forthcoming tie with Leinster but his head coach, Richard Cockerill, having overseen a Premiership run-in of 10 wins in 11 matches, was satisfied. "We've choked a little bit with three wins in eight finals in all competitions in the last few seasons," Cockerill said. "So I'm happy and we deserve it on the basis of the last four months."

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London Irish chose to scrummage in search of tries just before half-time when the score stood at 3-3, which against Leicester would ordinarily be akin to a turkey inviting a slaughterman round for Christmas dinner. Mike Catt, the 37-year-old London Irish fly-half was asked whether his team should have kicked for goal instead.

"Yes," said Catt, who otherwise put boot to ball more than the expansive Exiles are known for. Toby Booth, Irish's head coach, said: "I back my players to make decisions on the pitch. We had their scrum absolutely on toast at the time and you have to go with your momentum."

Catt's kicking was probably aimed at moving Leicester's powerful forwards around and it worked up to a point, if that is the correct phrase given the result. Peter Hewat, the Exiles' full-back, floated a 40-metre drop-goal over on a blustery wind after just 23 seconds but much of what followed was a butter-fingered mess of dropped passes and four missed goal-kicks: one by Hewat and two by Delon Armitage for Irish; one from Leicester's Julien Dupuy. There were smart and courageous acts in defence, too – several of them from the outstanding Murphy – and Dupuy's 17th-minute penalty was the only other score before the interval.

Not for want of Irish trying, at that series of four scrums from the 38th minute. Their pack had skewed Harlequins in last week's Premiership semi-final and they fancied something similar. The front rows stood up, then Chris Hala'Ufia and Steffon Armitage had charges halted by superb tackles from Sam Vesty and Craig Newby. Irish's scrum-half, Paul Hodgson, got himself isolated and finally Ben Kay's knock-on in the tackle heralded the half-time whistle. It was so frustrating for Casey and company, although they had forced Leicester's No 8, Jordan Crane, into a maul offence which took him to the sin-bin.

So eight months of Premiership toil came down to the final 40 minutes. Back in September Irish, Bath and Harlequins had been quickest into their stride while Wasps imploded and Leicester, nearing the end of an uncertain 18 months under Marcelo Loffreda and Heyneke Meyer, wobbled. They eventually topped the table and comfortably dismissed Bath in the semis. Irish, third in the regular season, had lost their line-out guru, Nick Kennedy, to pranged knee ligaments against Quins. While Kennedy sat gazing at set-piece replays in the West Stand, Delon Armitage spanked over a penalty to give Irish the lead eight minutes into the second half.

He and Leicester's Tom Croft are hopeful of joining the Lions squad tomorrow when one or two call-ups are made for the injured Tom Shanklin and banned Alan Quinlan. Both of the hopefuls reined in their attacking verve here; Armitage at centre and Croft at lock epitomised the clamp-down on space. Predictably so, from Leicester, who lacked the crocked Toby Flood and Aaron Mauger in midfield and the suspended wing Alex Tuilagi.

But no English club has a better bench. After 61 minutes Lewis Moody, just on as a replacement, combined with Craig Newby and Ayoola Erinle in a battering preamble to the crucial, solitary try. Matt Smith, another substitute, came in from the wing to set the ruck from which Crane – long since restored from his yellow-card banishment – reached over the line. Dupuy converted for 10-6.

A contentious call at a wheeled scrum gave Delon Armitage a penalty from the halfway line in the 72nd minute, but it was not enough to deny the Tigers.