Several times Leicester were down and definitely groggy but just when you thought they were almost out they dug into those famous reserves and somehow found something extra to take the Heineken Cup and complete a unique treble.

Nobody has been able to deny them this season and close though Stade Francais came through the boot of Diego Dominguez, who scored all their points with a record nine penalties and a drop goal, they can have no complaints having been outscored by three tries to nil.

For one awful moment it looked as if Martin Johnson might have cost his team the match and himself the unique distinction of leading the Lions for a second time. With six minutes gone in the second half he suddenly saw the red mist and laid into his opposing captain, Christophe Juillet, not once but twice right in front of the referee.

It could so easily have been a red card but referee, David McHugh, perhaps realising the consequences, leniently waved yellow and johnson escaped with ten minutes in the sin-bin. Johnson might argue that Juillet was holding him back but it was still showed an amazing lack of discipline in the circumstances.

Leicester immediately surrendered the advantage they had just established and would surely have lost the match if they had had to play out time with 14 men.

They were never at their best up front - Stade gave them a surprisingly tough time in the set pieces - and on this occasion it was the backs who should take the plaudits for victory. Leon Lloyd had a magnificent game scoring two tries and proving that he has now developed into a real contender for international honours while Austin Healey pulled the game out of the fire in the dying moments with the sort of break only he can make.

Both sides were obviously keyed up and we almost had a set-to bewfore the match ahd started but once the whistle went it took a long time to get into top gear.

As expected Stade Francais were the more adventurous side in the early stages although both sides indulged in too much aimless kicking for position and all the scoring in the first half came from the boots of Dominguez and Tim Stimpson.

Dominguez gave Stade the lead when Leicester were offside after four minutes but Fabrice Landreau threw a punch at the maul from the restart and Stimpson levelled as the hooker departed for 10 minutes in the cooler. He then gave Leicester the lead when Healey made the first telling break and Stade fell offside.

A bad breakdown in communication that left Pat Howard clearly running shotgun in front of the other backs gave Dominguez the chance to level and he was on target again when Johnson was penalised for going over the top after a tackle. His fourth penalty - for offside - was a huge kick from inside his own half but Stimpson immediately nullified that one as Stade were penalised for the same offence.

Just before half-time Richard Pool-Jones and Neil Back had their second altercation of the match. When it escalated into a general brawl referee, David McHugh, warned the wrong men - Dorian West and David Auradou - and awarded the penalty to the home side. Dominguez repeated the dose from inside his own half and Stade went into half-time with a useful six point lead.

Leicester badly needed a try and within a minute of the restart they broke the deadlock. A beautifully flighted chip from Howard allowed Murphy to gather in full stride and, unable to link inside with Lloyd, he opted to stab the ball through. Again it was inch perfect. Lloyd got a toe to it before Morgan Williams and although the scrum-half tried to hold him back he shook himself free to score. To their credit they at last showed some real tigerish tenacity but fell further behind after conceding another penalty under pressure before Johnson returned. Within a minute of being back to full strength they were level again.

Stade were forced to hold back the dangerous Lloyd after another surge down the right and Healey wasted no time in taking the quick penalty. He was brought down short but Back slotted in at scrum-half and was over like a shot when the ball was recycled. Stimpson's conversion from wide out completed the job.

Moments later Stimpson was tripped by Pool-Jones and Leicester were back in front with 15 minutes left. It did not last long.

A stupid penalty for offside immediately from the restart levelled things again and Dominguez added another to regain the lead a couple of minutes later. Stimpson did well to level from wide on the right but with just two minutes left on the clock Dominguez cooly dropped a goal.

Leicester were still struggling in the tight and it was only a quick reaction from Back that rescued the line-out ball which led to the final score. Suddenly the irrepressible Healey had the ball in space and made a cutting cross field break to find Lloyd in support on the right wing.

He surged for the corner and somehow got the ball down before Christophe Dominici bundled him into touch. Stimpson's superb touchline conversion increased the lead to four points which turned out to be crucila because Stade had one more simple penalty chance but were forced to go for the try and Leicester held them out. A magnificent finale if not a great final - perhaps Heineken really does get to the parts other sponsors cannot reach.