European Cup Pool Six/ Leinster 22 Leicester 9:It wasn't an afternoon for the sweeping brushstrokes of backline finesse that normally accompany a Leinster success. This victory was crafted on perspiration and a bloody-minded defiance interspersed with the occasional reminder of the Irish province's artistic heritage.
The artisans of the pack fashioned this win, though the backs too were content to get down and dirty in the pursuit of possession. Felipe Contepomi won the man-of-the-match accolade and mustered decent credentials, scoring 17 points and controlling the game intelligently, but the Leinster backrow offered arguably the worthier candidates.
Keith Gleeson was superb, supporting and harrying in equal measure, and Jamie Heaslip was no less effective, discharging his ball-carrying duties to great effect. But Shane Jennings proved the game's outstanding performer; his tackle count was off the radar - he often made two or three hits in the same passage of play - and he was hugely aggressive at the breakdown.
The match would have carried great resonance for Jennings and Leo Cullen, both of whom returned to Leinster from Leicester during the summer. Jennings admitted: "It was very personal - and I'd imagine for Leo. We enjoyed a lot of success over there (at Leicester) and have great friends. I was very happy to play for a great club.
"I wanted to do myself justice. It doesn't matter whether it's friends or foes that come over, I wanted to perform well and hopefully I helped the team in some way. We did okay in the pack. It wasn't perfect. Our lineout didn't go too well but we were happy with our line of defence and our scrum. There weren't that many missed tackles.
"A lot of lads really stepped up today. Everyone knows it's only the first game. You have to win your home games. Next week is a massive match and a completely new assignment. We're not getting big-headed or cocky and we have to play with the same professionalism we had today."
Cullen was another who proved his point eloquently. It's not a coincidence that the Leinster lineout has improved perceptibly since his return to Dublin. In truth all eight of the home pack and the two replacements contributed handsomely.
Chris Whitaker and Contepomi provided excellent direction at halfback, and the centres Gordon D'Arcy and Brian O'Driscoll were effectively combative at rucks, responsible not alone for turnovers but for forcing the concession of penalties.
D'Arcy made his usual quota of line breaks, while the Ireland and Leinster captain looks sharper with each game since his return. The defensive work of the inside trio was exemplary.
Shane Horgan appeared back to his best for the first time since sustaining a knee injury prior to the World Cup. He took his try with customary athleticism, and it was his spring-heeled pursuit of Geordan Murphy and great tackle an instant later on Alesana Tuilagi that denied Leicester a late bonus point they did not deserve on the day.
It was Horgan's 23rd try in the Heineken European Cup, a beautifully crafted homily to the training paddock.
Contepomi and O'Driscoll worked a run-around, Girvan Dempsey (giving another foot-perfect display) ran a holding line to stop the drift as a decoy, and D'Arcy timed his pass perfectly, allowing Horgan to beat Lewis Moody to the corner flag: not for the first time the pair raced for a corner - think the 2006 Six Nations at Twickenham - and the result was again the same.
The Tigers were remarkably one-dimensional and largely predictable in their patterns and were left to rue a particularly inept opening 40 minutes.
They tried to bully Leinster physically, run through them, when it would have made more sense to use the strong wind at their backs, seek territorial dominance and look to squeeze the home side.
Even when they did muster field position they sought to muscle their way around the fringes or else employ the twin battering rams of Tuilagi and Seru Rabeni.
Johnny Murphy was a late inclusion on the wing for the injured Dan Hipkiss, Rabeni moving into the centre. It certainly did not help the midfield creativity.
But there was little subtlety, as their new head coach, Marcelo Loffreda admitted: "Leinster played well and Felipe Contepomi was really smart. They not only put pressure on us but were very efficient when we had the ball. We got a bit repetitive in our game. We need to change some things. We were not very good and one of the main errors was that we were too quick to go to ground."
The Argentinian will take a more hands-on approach this week, having let Richard Cockerill select and prepare the team for last Saturday.
The Tigers will improve while Leinster know also there is scope to climb higher in terms of performance. They'll need to, starting on Sunday when they travel to Toulouse, the French side already with an away victory tucked in their back pocket.
First though the Leinster management and players will enjoy this victory. They set a number of goals, achieved them and once more ratcheted up the standard.
It's a promising opening to what will be a difficult campaign and once again highlights what this team are capable of when they get it right on the day.
Next weekend it'll have to be a case of all right on the night - kick-off is at 8pm Irish - without a blooper in sight.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 5 mins: Contepomi penalty, 3-0; 7: Goode pen, 3-3; 17: Goode pen, 3-6; 20: Contepomi pen, 6-6 (half-time 6-6); 42: Contepomi pen, 9-6; 50: Contepomi pen, 12-6; 52: Horgan try, Contepomi con, 19-6; 65: Goode pen, 19-9; 68: Contepomi pen, 22-9.
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, R Kearney; F Contepomi, C Whitaker; O le Roux, B Jackman, S Wright; L Cullen, M O'Kelly; S Jennings, K Gleeson, J Heaslip. Replacements: B Blaney for Jackman (11-19 mins and 76 mins); L Fitzgerald for Kearney (58 mins); JF Gomez for Wright (69 mins).
LEICESTER TIGERS: G Murphy; J Murphy, S Rabeni, O Smith, A Tuilagi; A Goode, F Murphy; M Ayerza, B Kaysar, J White; L Deacon, B Kay; M Corry (capt), L Moody, J Crane. Replacements: M Castrogiovanni for White (50 mins); M Davies for Kaysar; J Hamilton for Deacon (both 76 mins).
Referee: C Berdos(France).
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