There were many, many positives from Leinster’s stunning 25-6 upset win over holders Munster this past weekend in front of a record 82,000+ fans at Croke Park in Dublin (A record for a club match). For starters, Leinster’s victory knocked a gorilla-sized monkey off their back. This is a team that has had a rap over the years of not being able to win the big one, and particularly suffering an inferiority complex against the men wearing the red for Munster. The team from Dublin has a chance to win their first ever Heineken Cup win they play May 23rd at Murrayfield in Edinburgh. They will have to do it without their Argentine fly half, Felipe Contepomi, who tore his cruciate knee ligament, and will miss the final.
It’s a sad thing for Contepomi, who is leaving Leinster in the off-season for the sunnier climate and bigger Euros in Toulon, France. The Argentine Fly half, who along with Brian O’Driscoll has been the face of Leinster for the last few years, opened the scoring for the Dubliners with a cooly slotted drop goal, before going down in the first half with his knee injury.
Contepomi, like Moses, won’t be able make it to the Promised Land. He also will miss Argentina’s two internationals against England, but is hoping to be able to play club matches with Toulon in October. Still, his last match wearing the blue Leinster jersey will be one that he will never forget, that will probably rate right up there with the fly half’s great play for the Pumas in the Rugby World Cup in France two years ago.
For Leinster, they will have to hope that Jonathan Sexton will be able to fill the considerable shoes of their Argentine star…who will have to content himself with watching the match from the sidelines at Murrayfield.
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