Backs play their part as Leinster come good

It may have lacked the sheer drama and capacity atmosphere of previous Donnybrook experiences - the risible 5.30 kick-off took care of that - but once again the Leinster pack gave it socks last night, and this time the talented tyros outside of them clicked like never before this season. The result was a couple of cracking tries and an utterly merited win which has played the province back into contention in Pool One of the European Cup.

An irony was that they would have deservedly had more breathing space had Emmet Farrell not missed five of his nine kicks. Yet in a campaign where Liam Toland's ascendancy to the captaincy and Matt Williams' arrival as backs' coach has clearly improved the team's spirit and game-playing ambit, the missing link had been at half back and especially at out-half. The amply shaped Farrell duly filled the void.

Taking Stu Forster's crisp service flatter than many a Leinster out-half for some time, his distribution finally gave Brian O'Driscoll the space to show his class. Shane Horgan had another big game too.

It helped that the Leinster pack again provided a platform of quicker ball, hitting the rucks low, hard and in numbers to drive the French side back. The defensive work was generally top notch too. Stade looked at their most dangerous off broken play, notably through Christophe Dominici, but they spent much of the night on the back foot.

Shane Byrne's work-rate was phenomenal, but then there was hardly a Leinster forward whose work-rate wasn't. Bob Casey won the official man-of-the-match award, but Declan O'Brien vied with Casey, as he does for Leinster's most consistent player of the season, while it's hugely encouraging to see Malcolm O'Kelly rediscovering his form.

Clearly having done their video homework, Leinster pilfered seven balls on the Fabrice Landreau throw, three of them through O'Kelly and six of them in the first half. Indeed, the first three scores, 18 points in all, came directly off the Stade throw.

Byrne began the sequence, by snaffling up a loose flap under pressure from Darren George, and from the recycle Farrell threw a double-skip, low flat pass across the advancing French line.

O'Driscoll drifted onto it and around a tackle, sped away and Dominici didn't get a finger on him. Farrell converted what was a wonderful try.

Victor Costello, who again augmented some trademark ball-carrying with some muscular fringe tackling, pilfered an overcooked Landreau throw for Farrell to then engineer a clipped drop goal from limited space.

Leinster were penalised for non-existent handling on the deck, then for not retreating 10 metres and then for dissent, the additional 20 bringing Stade's opening three points comfortably into the range of Diego Dominguez.

Subsequently, from Dominguez's pinpoint 40-metre penalty to the corner for supposed offside around the fringes, a succession of four set-pieces culminated in Dominguez nippily looping around Conrad Stoltz to take the latter's pass in the tackle from Horgan.

The out-half converted and then kicked Stade ahead, albeit for only four minutes in the entire match. Dominguez surprisingly missed from 30 metres as the penalties continued to flow before a big follow-up tackle by Horgan on Dominici earned a penalty for not releasing which Farrell landed to level things.

Best of all followed when O'Kelly athletically deflected another Landreau throw. Costello was at the apex of a huge rumble up the middle and again O'Driscoll drifted onto another skip pass by Farrell off the recycle for the supporting Peter McKenna to mark a fine game by putting John McWeeney over in the corner.

Buoyed by belief in their back play, confidence began oozing through Leinster's every pore as they applied concerted continuity, the pack hitting upright targets in force, Forster wristily varying the targets and Farrell varying his game nicely.

The second and third quarters saw some of their best and most sustained rugby, yet their only reward was two further Farrell penalties either side of one by Dominguez as Farrell's radar went off beam.

Stade began upping the ante and Richard Pool-Jones finished off a lengthy drive in which he had made the biggest inroads after Farrell's costly missed penalty to touch. Dominguez's conversion brought Stade to within a point. You could sense the panic eating into Leinster.

Farrell even missed a straight insurance penalty from 30 metres. Leinster don't have Munster's savvy yet but they deservedly rode out the crisis by collectively making their tackles. The final whistle didn't come a second too soon.

Scoring sequence: 2 mins: O'Driscoll try, Farrell con, 7-0; 6 mins: Farrell drop goal, 10-0; 10 mins: Dominguez pen, 10-3; 16 mins: Dominguez try and con, 10-10; 20 mins: Dominguez pen, 10-13; 24 mins: Farrell pen, 13-13; 27 mins: McWeeney try, 18-13; 36 mins: Farrell pen, 21-13; 43 mins: Dominguez pen, 21-16; 53 mins: Farrell pen, 24-16; 68 mins: Pool-Jones try, Dominguez con, 24-23.

LEINSTER: P McKenna; D Hickie, B O'Driscoll, S Horgan, J McWeeney; E Farrell, S Forster; R Corrigan, S Byrne, G Halpin, R Casey, M O'Kelly, D O'Brien, V Costello, L Toland (capt).

STADE FRANCAIS: C Dominici; B Lima, C Mytton, C Stoltz, T Lombard; D Dominguez, C Laussucq; S Marconnet, F Landreau, P de Villiers, D George, D Auradou, M Lievrement, C Moni, R Pool-Jones. Replacements: D Auradou for Chaffardon (48 mins), C Juillet for Moni (48 mins), D Macfarland for Marconnet (62 mins), F Comba for Stoltz (71 mins).

Referee: S Piercy (England).