The Leicester Lip's still talk of the town

NOBODY in a European Cup final has engineered a break like the one 'The Leicester Lip' made when English rugby's largest tribe spent a memorable weekend plastered in Paris.

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Austin Healy grew up on Merseyside in a family of Evertonians, the walls of his bedroom festooned with posters of two Welshmen then at the top of their game: Nev and Kev as in Southall and Ratcliffe, pillars of a club at the top of their game as champions of England.

What Healey the scampering Scouser did in the last-minute against Stade Francais at the Parc des Princes still stands the test of time as the supremely climactic finish to a tournament since rebranded as the Champions Cup. Twenty four years after the event, it is only a slight exaggeration to say that his Parisian victims are still recovering from the trauma.

At a time when they are haunted by the spectre of relegation, another club from the opposite end of the Top 14 will head for Cardiff this week and a rendez-vous with another opponent from the East Midlands. Bordeaux, appearing in their first final just as Stade did more than a generation go, have reason to be wary of the Saints from Northampton.

Their challenge will be to conjure up some magic of their own, to do a Healey. Leinster, all the wiser and sadder for being knocked out in Dublin a fortnight ago, know to their cost that the outgoing Premiership champions have just the man for the job.

Fin Smth’s electrifying midfield break followed by a grubber weighted to perfection for Tommy Freeman on the right wing did to the favourites in Dublin what Healey’s turbo-charged 20-20 vision and pass to Leon Lloyd on the right wing for Leicester did to Stade in their capital.