Leinster left with much room to improve

Base camp has been reached by Leinster, but the summit is still a long way off. The interprovincial series, once an end in itself, seems now to be a stepping stone towards greater things, essentially a qualifying event for the burgeoning European Cup.

Leinster, along with Ulster and Munster, are again into next year's cup competition, with Connacht having to once more accept competition in the lower-octane European Conference.

This year's European Championship begins next week, when Leinster face French side Toulouse. That will now occupy the mind of the players and coach, Mike Ruddock, following his side's 23-6 win over Connacht in the final found of the interprovincial series at Donnybrook.

Winning the title by virtue of a superior points difference of two will no doubt give Ruddock a platform from which to build confidence, but if Leinster are to face into the French, Italians and English, a significant leap in standard is required. Faith alone won't bridge this gap. Ruddock acknowledges the task ahead.

"They have to go up another gear," he said. "I think we're still 15 per cent off what we need to be for Europe. That would be just to compete in Europe. If we want to win it, I'd say we're 25 per cent off the pace. But certainly to make the quarter-final stage we need to go up another gear.

"Regardless of the outcome today, the message has been that we have to become more skilful players. Winning the championship is nice, but at the end of the day we've got to develop better players."Ruddock, no doubt, found it difficult to erase some of the match scars from his mind in the immediate aftermath. What characterised the game most were the number of times the players' handling skills deserted them.

Denis Hickie, who was the game's most daring and effective runner, Victor Costello and John McWeeney were each gifted the ball in a try-scoring position: each time it was not picked up or spilled in error.

While Leinster's willingness to let out the ball was evident, their execution was error-strewn and fragile. Most importantly, it was ably handled by a Connacht defence that was teased apart only in the final quarter.

The pack was honest and provided enough ball, but it did not dominate or control. Trevor Brennan hit hard and Costello got himself around, but they rarely threatened scrum half Conor McGuiness, who had a canny game for Connacht.

Mervyn Murphy, who came into the Connacht centre at halftime for Simon Alnutt, also impressed with his running and strength in the cover, while Leinster fullback Kevin Nowlan enjoyed a day of coming into the line but was rarely pressured on his own line.

It was Nowlan's opportunistic charge that ultimately handed Leinster the title. Alan McGowan booted the ball out of defence as Connacht pressure inched them towards the Leinster line, and, although deep into injury time, Nowlan and Hickie gave chase.

Replacement full back Ray Southam subsequently found himself in possession but isolated, and as he tried to run from his 22 the ball popped out for Nowlan who gratefully accepted the present and raced in under the posts.

Leinster had already wrapped up the game after Martin Ridge, who earned the man of the match award, produced a sparkling solo effort for the first try just on the hour. Up until then the scoring had been an exchange of penalties between out-halves Eric Elwood and Alan McGowan.

McGowan had opened on three minutes before Elwood equalised in a first half that came to a close with the sides at a modest 3-3. After the break, McGowan extended the lead from 10 metres out after Costello had kicked ahead and made 30 metres of ground. A transgression in the ruck gave him a simple opportunity. Elwood levelled after 44 minutes.

It was then that Ridge turned the match. Brennan and Costello punched their way forward over the half-way line and the ball was moved to Ridge tight on the line. The Old Belvedere centre then took off and sidestepped two men before cantering over the line from 40 metres out. McGowan converted and added another penalty to give Leinster a 16-6 margin before Nowlan's try finally secured the series.

"Really we should have put it out of sight way before that," said Ruddock. "We'd two or three good openings that weren't finished off because we dropped the ball. "The skill level in the interprovincial championships has not been great. We are all working hard, but I guess it's just something we have to keep working on. In fairness it was our defence that got us through. We only conceded one try, which was a charged down kick against Ulster. That's something we've tried to build on."

Leinster meet Toulouse in their first European Cup match on September 6th.