Brian O'Driscoll would only accept the Heineken Man of the Match award after Leinster's shock 25-6 demolition of reigning champions Munster "on behalf of the Leinster pack".
Ireland's Grand Slam skipper kept himself and his province on course for a first Heineken Cup title as he created one try and scored another to give Croke Park's world record club crowd of 82,208 something very special to talk about.
"It is a little bit embarrassing being made man of the match. I'll accept on behalf of the Leinster pack because they created the platform for us to win the game," said O'Driscoll after the game.
"Games are won and lost at ruck time and we managed to get some quick ball to work off and then slow down Munster.
"We had no worries when we lost Felipe Contepomi and Jonny Sexton came on. He is unlucky not to get into the team because we have Felipe. "We certainly didn't feel we were losing anything when he came on. Fingers crossed, though, that Felipe will be fit in three weeks time for the final.
"We had lost twice to Munster this season and we really felt we owed them one. People had questioned our pride and passion, but I think we answered our critics today."
A jubilant Leinster captain, Leo Cullen, pointed to his side's clinical approach as being the key to a stunning victory. It is a victory that not only takes Leinster into their first Heineken Cup final, but will give Cullen the chance to make up for losing in the 2007 final when he was with Leicester Tigers.
"We have played some big games this season and results haven't gone our way. We talked about being clinical and taking our chances and that's what we did," said Cullen.
"The key for us was taking our opportunities and it was nice to capitalise on the pressure we created.
"Munster are a team that pride themselves on their physicality and we had to work hard to match them. They are a great team and have been the standard bearers for such a long time."
