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![]() | Sunday, 20 May, 2001, 15:34 GMT 16:34 UK Quins claim dramatic Shield win ![]() Gollings dives over for Quins' first try Harlequins 42-33 Narbonne Paul Burke kicked Harlequins to victory in the Heineken Shield final - but only after Narbonne had set up a thrilling finish at the Madejski Stadium in Reading. The Irish international landed a penalty and a drop goal in the final four minutes of extra time to seal a 42-33 victory after the game had edged back and forth for the entire 110 minutes. Coming just 24 hours after Leicester's win over Stade Francais in the Heineken Cup final, Quins' success clinched a memorable double for English rugby. But the result hung in the balance until Burke's dramatic intervention after Narbonne had tied the score at 26-26 with five minutes of normal time remaining. The boot of Gonzalo Quesada opened the scoring for Narbonne after six minutes only for Quins to take the lead with the first try of the game just 60 seconds later.
Quins kept their noses in front until Ignacio Corleto scored the French side's first try of the game on 30 minutes. Burke and Quesada then swapped a succession of penalties before Pat Sanderson crossed over for Quins' second try 15 minutes after the break. Burke's conversion made the score 23-19 to the English side, but Narbonne remained a huge threat. Even when scrum-half Gregory Sudre was yellow-carded and Burke had added another penalty to open a seven-point lead, Stuart Reid's men refused to throw in the towel. With just five minutes of normal time left, they levelled matters when Argentine hooker Mario Ledemso touched down and Quesada landed a difficult conversion. Quins began extra time with a flourish, Daren O'Leary profiting from Will Greenwood's powerful surge to crash down under the posts.
But Narbonne came back again, Reid scoring a debatable try in the dying seconds of the first half of extra time. The Scottish No 8 bundled his way to the Quins' line but seemed to lose control of the ball as he went to earth. Yet Welsh referee Nigel Whitehouse, who was right on the spot, deemed that Reid had grounded the ball legitimately. Quesada then reduced the deficit to three points with his seventh successful kick at goal. Narbonne had chances to take the game by the scruff of the neck but fell victim to Burke. After extending the lead to six points with yet another penalty, the Quins fly-half landed a drop goal with just over a minute remaining to seal a memorable win. | See also: Other top Heineken Cup stories: Links to more Heineken Cup stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||
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