Stirring occasion sees Tigers into the final - let's hope the underdogs can triumph one more time

Radwan provided the highlights of a hard-fought clash in the East Midlands with two brilliant tries, the first seeing him wrong foot the Sharks defence and the second made possible by athletically catching an overhit Handre Pollard chip.

- By IAN COCKERILL

Referencing the second try, Cheika said: "Adam grew about a foot, I reckon. A foot-and-a-half! He's not the tallest of fellas, Adam, but he got there.

"He runs at an excellent clip. He's fast and he's got a great sense of ball skills like timing and footwork and balance. And he was brave enough to do it.

"You've got to be brave to go and do that stuff and if you don't try it, you never know if it'll happen or not. I'm not going to rap him up too much, but it was a good try!

"Pollard had the courage to make the kick and then Adam had the courage to do that extra little bit to go and get it."

Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson admitted Leicester deserved their chance to succeed East Midlands rivals Northampton as champions.

"The result is crushing. The season crashes to a very abrupt end. But I don’t think we deserved to get to a final on that performance," Sanderson said.

"Leicester played their game very well and deserved to win by a few more if I'm honest. In the first half, no facet of our game was ticking.