Countdown to the new season: Gerry Thornley assesses what the Leinster brains trust learned from a lively night in Basque country

Planning for the 2006-2007 season, Michael Cheika recalled speaking earlier in the year to the horse trainer Jessica Harrington and noting with interest her preparation of horses who had been off the track for a while. Harrington likes to gallop her horses on race day, to acclimatise them to the crowds and the track.

Likewise, in exposing his makeshift line-up to a relatively hostile environment and a fired-up home team at the Stade Marcel-Boyru in Dax on Wednesday night, Leinster's Australian coach wasn't disappointed. The estimated crowd of 6,000-plus vied with an adjacent bullfight, complete with outside large screen for the overflow, before the local festival's closing fireworks display and a night of street partying. The mood was scarcely dimmed by teeming rain.

As starting points go, it was a useful eye-opener. Put it this way, if Luke Fitzgerald was ever to suffer the embarrassment of seeing a close-range drop-kicked conversion hit the upright, late on in a 25-4 defeat in a pre-season friendly away from the TV cameras was the place to do it.

Mindful also of Fitzgerald's unsure footing at times - utterly untypical of a gifted player blessed with excellent footwork despite being the son of Des - Cheika observed with a chuckle: "His first game in senior football is going to teach him to always bring two pairs of boots to the game: moulded and long ones. That's about all I'll say," before adding, "He's going to get used to the game and you could see the closer he got into the action, the more he started making plays. It was a good start for him that way and for a first game he did well."

Not the least surprised by how the game panned out, Cheika was inclined to note the positives, notably the debut of ex-Wallaby veteran Owen Finegan.

"I thought Finegan was great . . . and I think one of the big pluses was the fitness of all the boys - they're feeling good."

He also singled out Des Dillon, Chris Whitaker, Christian Warner and the impressive Ross McCarron.

Leinster used two hookers, including a converted prop in Johnny Wickham, and five props, including Harry Vermass, who can also double up as a hooker and a thrower, and most of the innumerable permutations, it has to be said, saw the Leinster scrum buckling under pressure.

Yet Cheika saw enough to reckon he could ascertain the better combinations, and the best of them on the night seemed to be when the versatile South African under-21 World Cup winner Vermass was employed at hooker, at which point the Samoan Fosi Pala'amo looked better on the loose side. To be honest, Vermass appears a tad on the small side for a prop.

So, the pecking order at loose head might be Reggie Corrigan, Pala'amo and Robert Sweeney, with Cheika to choose from David Blaney, Bernard Jackman and Vermass at hooker, and Will Green and Ronnie McCormack still the frontliners at tight head.

A disappointing feature, Cheika admitted, was the handling. In the general free-for-all at the breakdown and around the fringes, Leinster struggled for continuity and go-forward ball up front.

The lineout went reasonably well but questions will persist about the pack, especially the tight five. Chris Whitaker's crisp passing and running looked a real addition. As is his wont, the "trialist" Andy Dunne showed some really classy touches and, according to Cheika, "did no harm to his claims for getting some time".

At times the defence looked a little narrow on the inside and soft on the outside but next week will see the return of Robert Kearney and Kieran Lewis as well as Leinster's other Churchill Cup players, Trevor Hogan, Jamie Heaslip, Brian Blaney and Ronnie McCormack, not to mention Felipe Contepomi, for Friday's double header at home to London Irish. To that end, Dax will have helped Cheika draw clearer lines between his senior and A squad, to be coached this season by Emmet Farrell and Colin McEntee.

The 34-year-old Finegan is clearly not the player of his Wallaby pomp but made some good yardage. One of five players released by Newcastle, he admits that bitter blow has become a "bit of a blessing in disguise" as playing in Ireland is something he'd always wanted to do.

A Celtic League and Heineken European Cup would fit nicely in his trophy cabinet, and he admits they are the targets. A self-confessed "rugby thinker" he's also grateful for the chance to coach at Bective Rangers.

"I'm looking forward to a great year. For me personally it's a good way to finish off, refreshed and with a new challenge."