Cheika's men must shrug off brickbats

Matt Williams/Analysis: So the anaconda prevailed over the cheetah. Munster's vice-like grip on this game deserves praise, but if the Leinster evolution is to continue - and they are still on the right track - then they must ignore the criticism that will surely follow.

Whoever lost yesterday was always going to come in for a huge amount of stick.

Munster's faith in the path they are on can now be adopted by Leinster. This must simply be put down to a bad day at the office. Ignore the criticism because it has still been a phenomenally successful season for Leinster rugby.

I don't want to be negative, because Munster deserve massive credit, but they were never going to win; it was Leinster's game to lose.

Technically, Leinster were terrible. When that is the case, a pack like Munster will make you pay. Again, Paul O'Connell was the stand-out figure. He is a colossus.

Rugby is not like other sports, say basketball and football, where the main source of possession comes from the actions of individual players. In rugby, the team must function cohesively for possession to become available.

Despite a 10-minute spell in the second half, Leinster were utterly dominated. Even during this purple patch, they failed to break the line of red shirts.

Winning a game of rugby comes down to the three Ps. We mentioned possession but equally important are position and points.

O'Connell ensured a wealth of possession at the lineout, while Ronan O'Gara added the position and subsequently the points. It was classically simple.

Munster established position early - right from the kick-off in fact. The 10-point cushion that followed within the opening 10 minutes ensured Leinster had little option but to launch long-range attacks. They never had enough possession to pick off the essential three-pointers that decide semi-finals and finals.

I was disappointed with the performance level they reached as it was substantially below that of the Toulouse match. If the tempo of Le Stadium could have been repeated yesterday, the result would have been a foregone conclusion.

Credit, again, to Munster though for sucking the life out of them. David Wallace and his backrow colleagues slowed Leinster ball down to a snail's pace. These tactics at the breakdown eventually frustrated them into errors. It also ensured healthy Munster numbers in defence. When O'Driscoll and D'Arcy came looking for chinks in the red armour, there were none. That's what semi-final football is all about.

The effort of the Leinster team was unquestioned but the precision was patently absent.

Brian Blaney's inexperience at this level was ruthlessly exposed. He wasn't the only one. If Shane Byrne, Leo Cullen and Shane Jennings were still wearing blue jerseys the game would have gone down to the wire.

At this stage of a season someone like Byrne is crucial to deciding big games.

Cullen, too, is a banker come the lineout. This combination would have given the Leinster backs the required platform.

Alas, these three players have been lost to domestic Irish rugby. Malcolm O'Kelly is still a world-class option out of touch but his movements became easy to predict.

It was one-sided from the first minute really. The whole philosophy of Leinster rugby is to play a high-risk style. People should remember this before the stone-casting begins.

It was an important day for Irish rugby as well. If Ireland play the Munster game they won't beat any of the leading nations. It would be petty to criticise the Munster way, the international team do need their belligerence and physique, but Ireland must adopt the game plan displayed by Leinster in Toulouse.

I believe the Heineken Cup will finally make a long-overdue visit to Cork and Limerick this season. The long journey looks set for a happy ending.

They won't be fazed by Biarritz. Like them, the French are a tough side who know how to rack up points at this stage of the competition. It will be a battle of the grinders - and we know who holds the patent there.