How Healey had the last word

But the bond between player and club may not be unbreakable. Healey revealed that he could be on the move when his contract runs out at the end of next season. 'I have now won everything there is to win with Leicester,' he said. 'I am going to reassess where I am.

'You have to question what drives you on. I'm not saying I'm leaving Leicester, but it's going to be difficult to recharge my enthusiasm and motivation. Louise and I are starting a family soon, we are both from the north and there is a possibility we might move back there one day.'

Healey is only 27 but I understand that any motivational problem could be solved at a stroke by Leicester switching him to his favourite position, stand-off. England, of course, pick him as a wing, while the Tigers deploy him as a scrum-half.

On Saturday, Healey rescued a lost cause and created the most dramatic finish to any of rugby's six European finals.

Less than three minutes from the end of normal time, Diego Dominguez stroked Stade Francais ahead for the fourth time and dropped Leicester into such a deep hole that surely not even they could find a way out.

Fewer than 90 seconds remained when Pat Howard called the move, codenamed Double Suck Option, designed to unlock a drift defence.

Healey had been switched from scrum-half to stand-off five minutes earlier, a change which looked more like a last desperate throw of the dice from Dean Richards than a substitution to alter the course of history.

As he waited to be fed from a Leicester line-out, Healey knew it was all down to him. He made it work like a dream, breaking the line by catching an opponent fractionally off-line and leaving such a long trail of Gallic devastation in his wake that he had sent Leon Lloyd in at the corner for his second try before the French knew the score.

Healey was on his last legs.

'I'd seized up with cramps,' he said. 'I looked for the accelerator again and couldn't find it. Fortunately, Leon had steamed up to take the pass.'

Once Tim Stimpson landed the touchline conversion, Leicester knew they were home and dry because Stade would have to do something they had never looked capable of - scoring a try.

While Dominguez will never understand how he could kick 10 goals in a European final for the French champions at the Parc des Princes and still lose, there is nothing mysterious about it.

Leicester operate the best defence in the club game because they were smart enough a long time ago to hire the best defensive operator, ex-Great Britain rugby league coach Phil Larder.

The Tigers may have cut it fine after an inept first half, but 3-0 on tries leaves no doubt as to the merit of their greatest achievement.

More good news for them is that Martin Johnson is to sign a new contract which will keep him at Leicester for the rest of his playing days. The England captain has agreed a two-year deal taking him through to the World Cup in 2003 when he will be 33.