Heineken Cup - O'Driscoll: Elsom immense

Eurosport - Mon, 25 May 14:26:00 2009

Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll hailed Australian back row international forward Rocky Elsom's immense contribution as Leinster beat Leicester to win a first Heineken Cup.

RUGBY Leinster's Rocky Elsom, Brian O'Driscoll, Felipe Contepomi and Gordon D'Arcy with the Heineken Cup - 0

"I would say the best player I have ever played with and I have played with many good players," O'Driscoll said of Elsom (pictured far left beside O'Driscoll, Felipe Contepomi and Gordon D'Arcy) after the 19-16 victory at Murrayfield.

O'Driscoll, 30, a veteran of 93 caps for his country and about to embark on his third British and Irish Lions tour, has captained and played with the best of his era.

Continuing his gushing assessment of Elsom's man-of-the-match display and performances throughout the tournament, O'Driscoll added: "Lets put it this way, we wouldn't have won the Heineken Cup without Rocky Elsom. He doesn't make many errors and his ball carrying is frightening.

"Irrespective of what happened today Rocky Elsom is the player of the Heineken Cup and you saw the display he produced in the final, he is just a remarkable player."

The 26-year-old Elsom proved, once again, Leinster's most potent attacking threat. His drive led to team mate Jamie Heaslip scoring their crucial try nine minutes into the second half with flyhalf Johnny Sexton tying the scores with the conversion.

Foolishly Leicester continued to kick to him throughout the match and he sidestepped and handed off opponents with sumptuous ease.

Leinster coach and fellow Australian Michael Cheika added: "He (Elsom) has added to our culture, I think he has improved his footie and I think he showed why the Australians want him back."

The near 18-stone Elsom smirked: "one of the better ones" when asked by reporters if he had experienced a better day in his young rugby career.

Reuters

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  1. Elsom was the best player on the pitch just shading­ Hipkiss what a great game both had, if I am honest­ Leinster just about deserved it as much as it pains me­ to say it. oh and thank you to the Leinster fans who­ ran on the pitch after the game especially the bloke­ who had the Borat mankini under his kilt. while I dont­ normally like pitch invasions wathing the stewards­ trying to catch them and failing was very funny and­ stopped me being upset at the result. one last point­ The Munster fans in the South stand were cheering on­ Leinster but even if they wernt so what. They pay their­ money for a ticket and can support who they want to. As­ long as there isnt any trouble then thats all that­ matters. If it was Bath or Wasps in the final I would­ be cheering on the other team.

    From liam, on Tue 26 May 1:46PM
  2. just on a different note hear, how much rugby has harry­ ellis had in the last few weeks, about 40 minutes­ maybe. For a scrum half going on a lions tour that is­ not good enough, i questioned why is going on that tour­ and that just backs me up.

    From bmuirboy, on Mon 25 May 10:25PM
  3. Tu veux rire Dean H, ha ha ha. Tu oublies la défaite­ des Lodon Irish chez eux face à Bourgoin et les seules­ défaites des deux clubs finalistes en Hcup l'ont­ été face à Castres pour Leinster et Perpignan pour­ Leicester.
    Regarde bien tous les arbitrages Britaniques­ entre une équipe Britannique et une équipe Française,­ c'est flagrant, l'arbitre sanctionnera trois­ fois plus l'équipe Française alors que la plupart­ des fautes Anglaises sont oubliées, curiouys, isn't­ it ? Repasse-toi le match de Cardif contre Toulouse,­ l'essai de Toulouse est complètement valable et­ dans une action en second mi-temps, un troisième ligne ­ de Cardif sur une attaque flamboyante de Toulouse­ bloque délibérément une sortie de balle à deux mêtres­ de son en-but et n'écope pas d'un carton jaune.­ Si ce n'était qu'un ou deux match, on pourrait­ parler d'accident mais depuis trois bonnes années,­ c'est pour tous les matchs entre nos deux pays­ quand l'arbitre est Britanique, ce n'est pas­ normal ! Te souhaitant une bonne réflexion Dean. Je­ joue ce week-end contre une équipe Anglaise, crois-moi,­ ils vont souffrir avant la bière :-) In your judgment­ and god save the Rugby between our twoo nations. First­ measure,
    I pray so that all the arbitrator Britaniques­ speaks about their historic language, the Frenchman­ since Hasting !

    From Gilles L, on Mon 25 May 8:12PM
  4. Est-ce que les Français se transformer en mauvaise­ sports, vos équipes ne sont pas à la hauteur. Je ne­ vois pas où vous mouning deux équipes françaises se­ rendre à la finale

    From DEAN, on Mon 25 May 4:43PM
  5. Une finale ne devrait pas être jouée dans le pays­ d'une des deux équipes et l'arbitre devrait­ être neutre !
    On peut dire ce que l'on veut mais un­ arbitre Britanique reste Anglais fort naturellement­ (pardon aux Irlandais, Gallois et Ecossais) et les­ matchs entre la France et L'Angleterre idem pour­ leurs clubs, devraient être arbitrés par des Argentins,­ Italiens, Néozélandais ou Japonais. J'ai encore le­ souvenir de l'arbitrage calamiteux du dernier­ France & Irlande à Croke Park, s'en était­ ridicule. Le avants Irlandais n'arretaient pas de­ gratter les ballons à la main dans les ruck sans que­ l'arbitre ne dise quoi que ce soit, alors que les­ Français étaient systématiquement siflés, s'en­ était honteux !

    From Gilles L, on Mon 25 May 3:33PM
  6. nobody said that ALL munster fans were supporting­ Leicester, but having been at the game AND watched the­ highlights again, there were a lot of guys in munster­ fans with Leicester flags. Any munster fans supporting­ Leinster are proper rugby fans and are not who these­ complaints are aimed at
    But to draw a line, Leinster­ deserved the win and their success will bolster the­ Lions effort

    From moggie2727, on Mon 25 May 1:23PM
  7. This nonsense of Munster fans supporting Leicester is­ ridicolous.
    I was present with eight other Munster fans­ at the match and we were in full support of Leinster as­ all Irish should be.Cheering and clapping just as loud­ as anyone.
    Leinster fans should just enjoy the moment­ and not worry about minor negatives

    From tptcel, on Mon 25 May 12:26PM
  8. I'm a munster fan and was at the game on saturday.­ Really well done to leinster they deserved every bit of­ credit. Just on the people giving out about munster­ fans who were supporting leicester, there wasn't­ that many compared to munster fans supporting leinster.­
    There is a huge rivalry there because leinster fans­ still when after winning the heineken cup still came up­ to me giving out about munster fans who were there­ supporting leinster. I was not wearing my munster­ jersey, thought it wouldn't be right to do it on­ leinsters day. Just think maybe leinster should just­ celebrate the win with the munster fan like munster­ celebrated their win with leinster fans in 06 / 08

    From denisosulli, on Mon 25 May 10:49AM
  9. can anyone tell me who was the guy that slated rocky­ elsom saying he wasnt good enuf?m i think it was around­ the last world cup

    From zeppelinsymbols, on Mon 25 May 10:27AM
  10. Je consens qu'il y a beaucoup de vraiment mauvais­ arbitres mais c'est arbitres pas juste des­ britanniques. L'Australien et les arbitres de­ Nouvelle Zélande sont aussi très mauvais. Je pense que­ le meilleur arbitre est Alan Lewis.

    From markear1, on Mon 25 May 10:11AM
  11. well gilles in the words of del boy monsgue et tu petti­ fulea

    From frankkenny96, on Mon 25 May 9:31AM
  12. 9.Trop c'est trop, l'arbitrage Britannique­­ pénalise beaucoup trop les équipes Françaises,­­ c'est inadmissible !
    Que ce soit dans le tournois­­ des six nations ou dans les coupes d'Europe.­­ Pourquoi ne voit-on pas des arbitres Français,­­ Artgentins, Italiens ? Ils ne sont pas plus mauvais­ que­ les autres au regard des divers arbitrages­ réalisés­ depuis ce début d'année, ils ont­ largement leur­ place !
    Peut-être aussi que ces­ arbitres Britanniques­ ont peur pour leurs­ équipes...C'est un peu comme­ une mère qui­ protégerait ses enfants...Les Clubs­ Français devront­ quitter les championnats Européens­ voir le six nations­ si cela ne change pas, cela en­ devient ridicule et­ flagrant. Pour exemple,­ l'arbitrage de la finale­ entre Norphampton et­ Bourgoin a été catastrophique,­ l'arbitre n'a­ pas pénalisé les faits les plus­ graves et les joueurs­ se sont fait justice...je passe­ les nombreuses­ pénalités non siflées contre­ Norphampton sur des­ ballons gardés au sol alors­ qu'elles étaient­ quasiment toutes siflées contre­ Bourgoin...Je­ n'insisterai pas sur le match volé­ entre Toulous et­ Cardif et les matchs de poule­ notemment avec le stade­ Français ou Montauban etc.­ Cela doit cesser pour que le­ Rugby entre nos quatre­ nations vivent.
    God save Rugby,­ please !

    From Gilles L, on Mon 25 May 9:18AM
  13. If you're a London Irish fan, should you support­ Leinster or Leicester in this final? I chose Leinster­ because the Harp on their shirts reminds me of­ Guinness....lovely!

    From The Xentertainer, on Mon 25 May 8:50AM
  14. Munster!!!bad sports...Cork footballers and­ hurlers...Roy Keane...Leinster by birth
    .D.V.

    From delves_john, on Mon 25 May 6:08AM
  15. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    are you the geek in the picture with the cup on his­ head oh dear

    From frankkenny96, on Mon 25 May 12:34AM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    wahee ads bet ya have a smile wider than a brassers­ crack thank god peace at last

    From frankkenny96, on Mon 25 May 12:31AM
  17. Great day. Great game. O driscoll is as hard as nails.­ I hope to god Elsom gives it another year.

    From Ads A, on Sun 24 May 10:57PM
  18. Well done leinster what a result. I am an Ulster fan (­ we beat Munster twice this year ) and you can be sure I­ was supporting Leinster in the final as we are all­ Irish and the Munster fans can be shamed by their­ childish behaviour, lets hope we dont see them at Croke­ park next year wearing the flag of St. George.

    From paulandlyndsay, on Sun 24 May 6:44PM
  19. It was a fantastic game and it was a pity there had to­ be a loser both teams played their heart out and at 16­ all it was anyone's game. The atmosphere was bloody­ fantastic the Leinster fans are by far the most­ passionate, loyal and friendliest I have met during my­ trips to the finals which is much less I have to say­ about Munster fans.
    I would like to thank Stuart­ Barnes who stopped, spoke and shook my sons hand and­ allowed him to take his photo also the players that­ took time to speak to the kids waiting by the tunnel,­ just another fantastic day well worth the drive from­ Bristol.

    From Kevin, on Sun 24 May 5:43PM
  20. great point there moggie and i noticed that too. Very­ curtious and extremely sportsman like for the Leicester­ team to watch them get presented with thre trophy,­ thats what makes rugby the greatest team sport. Would­ never see that in a football

    From bmuirboy, on Sun 24 May 4:09PM
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