The greatest final of all time, a wild, crazy, wonderful and brilliant match and occasion, with ridiculous rollercoaster swoops of morale and momentum.
Inside the last five minutes, Saracens took the most dramatic lead when Glen Jackson, who had piloted a team of delightful attacking skills with real precision, put Saracens 27-26 into the lead with a penalty from within easy range. Considering his legs must have been jelly, it may as well have been from 300m.
All Saracens had to do to win their first title was take the kick-off, set it up and run down the clock. But, incredibly, Scott Hamilton came up with a desperate dash to catch the ball cleanly as it fell, and he ran on for the line. He picked up an amazing run by Danny Hipkiss, the Leicester centre who had just come on as replacement.
Hipkiss hurtled into the last defenders, incredibly hurtled out the other side and scored to provoke probably the loudest noise that Twickenham has every heard — a combination of sheer, roaring delight from Leicester and agony from Saracens.
Because Leicester have slightly more up front, because they had more territory in the second half, they probably just about deserved it, although Saracens made several powerful points.
First, they can play outstanding rugby, they had genuine attacking delight in Jackson, Adam Powell and Andy Saull and any number of others. Second, despite their large South African contingent, they can galvanise English followers and young England players. Third, they can play in adversity.
I felt that it was dreadful that Brendan Venter, their coach, was banished from Twickenham yesterday and nobody could put their hand on heart and say that Saracens would still have lost had he been present.
Leicester’s back division was nothing like as inventive or as strong, nor did Leicester have the ebullience around the field of Saracens.
But Ben Youngs was outstanding at scrum-half, Geordan Murphy in definitive form at full-back and the Leicester back row did wonders, with Jordan Crane, the official man of the match, showing light and shade to the normal dark forces of his power game.
Probably the only check on a wonderfully entertaining match and a monumental occasion was the nerve-shredding ranting of the man on the microphone.
He appeared to feel that he needed to fill every millisecond when nothing was happening with his next inanity, even during a perfectly good half-time show.
You also seriously wonder who among spectators at these big sporting occasions have written to demand that the music be cranked up to nonsensical levels, so much so that you have to roar into the ear of the person sitting next to you in an attempt to get some kind of message across.
People tend to have forgotten that the atmosphere at rugby matches builds by itself, and that the best of rugby speaks for itself.
Mr Attrition was run clean out of the stadium. He never appeared all afternoon and, in his absence, there was a delightful flow to the game.
That neither side went for a lengthy softening-up process meant that we saw three superb tries in the first half alone.
Saracens had settled far better, no doubt encouraged by their followers’ clear victory in the shouting stakes but Leicester scored the first try, and that after Jackson had put Saracens ahead 6-3 after 10 minutes.
Leicester, however, had already created two excellent chances down the right wing, the first was missed when Matt Smith knocked on and the second when Tom Croft was unable to gather what could have been a scoring pass.
Yet in the same attacking series, Murphy set off with a quick throw from a lineout and the giant Alesana Tuilagi set up an attacking ruck. With Leicester on quick ball, Murphy reappeared with splendid sleight of hand and electric passing from Anthony Allen and Hamilton sent Smith overlapping around the posts.
Flood converted to add to his early penalty but then Saracens showed their attacking brilliance.
Michael Tagicakibau made one of a series of bursts down the right wing, Saracens set the ball back, Jackson doubled around Schalk Brits, and a clever slanting run by Jacques Burger made space for the splendid Joubert to score in the corner.
After a penalty from each side had made it 14-13 to Saracens, Leicester came back with a try that seemed to owe much to clever pre-match tactics and the spotting of a weakness on fringes of the Saracens ruck.
When Leicester won a ruck ball, they drove it right up the side of the ruck, with Crane and Smith carrying effectively. After the next ruck, Youngs set off into space and scored.
Admittedly, Saracens appeared to have a legitimate complaint as referee Dave Pearson seemed to run in front of Steve Borthwick as Youngs set off but it was marginal as to whether Borthwick would have made the tackle.
By half-time, Leicester were leading 20-14 with Saracens needing to continue their attacking excellence, but also needing to tighten up their defence and game plan.
Leicester powered away to 23-14 in the third quarter, mostly due to their scrummage power and penalties by Toby Flood.At that stage, there seemed every chance that they would gallop home.
But Saracens came back beautifully once again, with Powell bursting through, getting his pass away to Saull in the tackle. He found Joubert bursting down the left for his second try. It was perfectly executed, and, although Flood made it 26-21 later, Saracens were dangerous from everywhere and two penalties by Jackson gave them their heart-stopping 26-24 lead.
The roof fell in on their aspirations in that glorious and cruel ending. As the fireworks signalled the end of the club season, Saracens watched the presentation with their arms around each other. They have a growing following and a growing momentum.
Leicester’s momentum is not so much growing, as always there. A Premiership season that descended into the pedestrian during the muddy winter, burst out gloriously towards the end and it had the climax that the whole thing deserved.
Saracens can be unbelievably proud of themselves, and Leicester can shine yet another major trophy.
Star man: Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
Scorers: Leicester: Tries: Smith 13, Youngs 28, Hipkiss 77 Cons: Flood (3)
Pens: Flood (4)
Saracens: Tries: Joubert 18, 49 Con: Jackson Pens: Jackson (5)
Referee: D Pearson (RFU)
Attendance: 81,600
Leicester: G Murphy (capt); S Hamilton, M Smith (D Hipkiss 68min), A Allen, A Tuilagi (J Staunton 74min); T Flood, B Youngs; M Ayerza (B Stankovich 51min), G Chuter, M Castrogiovanni (D Cole 50min), L Deacon, G Parling, T Croft, L Moody (C Newby 68min), J Crane.
Saracens: A Goode; M Tagicakibau (K Ratuvou 60min), A Powell, B Barritt, C Wyles; G Jackson, N De Kock (J Marshall 65min); M Aguero (R Gill 50min), S Brits, P Du Plessis, S Borthwick (M Botha 45min), H Vyvyan, J Burger, A Saull (J Melck 65min), E Joubert (capt).
Inside the last five minutes, Saracens took the most dramatic lead when Glen Jackson, who had piloted a team of delightful attacking skills with real precision, put Saracens 27-26 into the lead with a penalty from within easy range. Considering his legs must have been jelly, it may as well have been from 300m.
All Saracens had to do to win their first title was take the kick-off, set it up and run down the clock. But, incredibly, Scott Hamilton came up with a desperate dash to catch the ball cleanly as it fell, and he ran on for the line. He picked up an amazing run by Danny Hipkiss, the Leicester centre who had just come on as replacement.
Hipkiss hurtled into the last defenders, incredibly hurtled out the other side and scored to provoke probably the loudest noise that Twickenham has every heard — a combination of sheer, roaring delight from Leicester and agony from Saracens.
Because Leicester have slightly more up front, because they had more territory in the second half, they probably just about deserved it, although Saracens made several powerful points.
First, they can play outstanding rugby, they had genuine attacking delight in Jackson, Adam Powell and Andy Saull and any number of others. Second, despite their large South African contingent, they can galvanise English followers and young England players. Third, they can play in adversity.
I felt that it was dreadful that Brendan Venter, their coach, was banished from Twickenham yesterday and nobody could put their hand on heart and say that Saracens would still have lost had he been present.
Leicester’s back division was nothing like as inventive or as strong, nor did Leicester have the ebullience around the field of Saracens.
But Ben Youngs was outstanding at scrum-half, Geordan Murphy in definitive form at full-back and the Leicester back row did wonders, with Jordan Crane, the official man of the match, showing light and shade to the normal dark forces of his power game.
Probably the only check on a wonderfully entertaining match and a monumental occasion was the nerve-shredding ranting of the man on the microphone.
He appeared to feel that he needed to fill every millisecond when nothing was happening with his next inanity, even during a perfectly good half-time show.
You also seriously wonder who among spectators at these big sporting occasions have written to demand that the music be cranked up to nonsensical levels, so much so that you have to roar into the ear of the person sitting next to you in an attempt to get some kind of message across.
People tend to have forgotten that the atmosphere at rugby matches builds by itself, and that the best of rugby speaks for itself.
Mr Attrition was run clean out of the stadium. He never appeared all afternoon and, in his absence, there was a delightful flow to the game.
That neither side went for a lengthy softening-up process meant that we saw three superb tries in the first half alone.
Saracens had settled far better, no doubt encouraged by their followers’ clear victory in the shouting stakes but Leicester scored the first try, and that after Jackson had put Saracens ahead 6-3 after 10 minutes.
Leicester, however, had already created two excellent chances down the right wing, the first was missed when Matt Smith knocked on and the second when Tom Croft was unable to gather what could have been a scoring pass.
Yet in the same attacking series, Murphy set off with a quick throw from a lineout and the giant Alesana Tuilagi set up an attacking ruck. With Leicester on quick ball, Murphy reappeared with splendid sleight of hand and electric passing from Anthony Allen and Hamilton sent Smith overlapping around the posts.
Flood converted to add to his early penalty but then Saracens showed their attacking brilliance.
Michael Tagicakibau made one of a series of bursts down the right wing, Saracens set the ball back, Jackson doubled around Schalk Brits, and a clever slanting run by Jacques Burger made space for the splendid Joubert to score in the corner.
After a penalty from each side had made it 14-13 to Saracens, Leicester came back with a try that seemed to owe much to clever pre-match tactics and the spotting of a weakness on fringes of the Saracens ruck.
When Leicester won a ruck ball, they drove it right up the side of the ruck, with Crane and Smith carrying effectively. After the next ruck, Youngs set off into space and scored.
Admittedly, Saracens appeared to have a legitimate complaint as referee Dave Pearson seemed to run in front of Steve Borthwick as Youngs set off but it was marginal as to whether Borthwick would have made the tackle.
By half-time, Leicester were leading 20-14 with Saracens needing to continue their attacking excellence, but also needing to tighten up their defence and game plan.
Leicester powered away to 23-14 in the third quarter, mostly due to their scrummage power and penalties by Toby Flood.At that stage, there seemed every chance that they would gallop home.
But Saracens came back beautifully once again, with Powell bursting through, getting his pass away to Saull in the tackle. He found Joubert bursting down the left for his second try. It was perfectly executed, and, although Flood made it 26-21 later, Saracens were dangerous from everywhere and two penalties by Jackson gave them their heart-stopping 26-24 lead.
The roof fell in on their aspirations in that glorious and cruel ending. As the fireworks signalled the end of the club season, Saracens watched the presentation with their arms around each other. They have a growing following and a growing momentum.
Leicester’s momentum is not so much growing, as always there. A Premiership season that descended into the pedestrian during the muddy winter, burst out gloriously towards the end and it had the climax that the whole thing deserved.
Saracens can be unbelievably proud of themselves, and Leicester can shine yet another major trophy.
Star man: Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
Scorers: Leicester: Tries: Smith 13, Youngs 28, Hipkiss 77 Cons: Flood (3)
Pens: Flood (4)
Saracens: Tries: Joubert 18, 49 Con: Jackson Pens: Jackson (5)
Referee: D Pearson (RFU)
Attendance: 81,600
Leicester: G Murphy (capt); S Hamilton, M Smith (D Hipkiss 68min), A Allen, A Tuilagi (J Staunton 74min); T Flood, B Youngs; M Ayerza (B Stankovich 51min), G Chuter, M Castrogiovanni (D Cole 50min), L Deacon, G Parling, T Croft, L Moody (C Newby 68min), J Crane.
Saracens: A Goode; M Tagicakibau (K Ratuvou 60min), A Powell, B Barritt, C Wyles; G Jackson, N De Kock (J Marshall 65min); M Aguero (R Gill 50min), S Brits, P Du Plessis, S Borthwick (M Botha 45min), H Vyvyan, J Burger, A Saull (J Melck 65min), E Joubert (capt).