Leinster gorge on a meagre diet

Pool Two/ Leinster 37 Gloucester 20: There's a temptation to suggest the overriding issue for Leinster at Lansdowne Road was the victory embellished by a four-try bonus point. But by this morning, it's doubtful Leinster coach Michael Cheika will be as enamoured by the performance.

Even in the aftermath of a satisfactory evening the Australian was refreshingly pragmatic. "We didn't get into any rhythm and it eventually got into a bit of an arm wrestle towards the end of the game. We hung in there.

"They're a pretty tough pack and they have some exciting players out wide. We are going to have our work cut out for us when we go down there.

"(I'm) happy enough to get a bonus point. I thought we took our opportunities but we stuffed a few up as well. I think we could have been a lot more clinical in areas of the game. We gave away field position three or four time when we had golden opportunities to attack. We have to get those things right if we want to go on and win more games."

It was a curious affair in that several Leinster players produced outstanding displays yet the team struggled for continuity for large tranches of the match, were brittle defensively at times and made a plethora of unforced errors.

Crucially though, especially in the first half, they were ruthless in gorging on a meagre diet of chances and they profited from a sublime kicking display from outhalf Felipe Contepomi; a flawless seven from as many attempts on an evening of wind and rain needs little elaboration. His 22 points that included a try kept the scoreboard ticking over and created a buffer for his side.

The men either side of him on the pitch, scrumhalf Cillian Willis and inside centre Gordon D'Arcy, also produced stand-out performances. The 21-year-old Willis enjoyed an auspicious competitive debut, combative and assured. He made mistakes but never once let it affect his distribution or tried to shirk his responsibilities.

He trusted his instincts and for that he deserves tremendous credit. His battle with the excellent Peter Richards resembled two male ferrets in a sack.

D'Arcy was simply immense, his footwork, power and work-rate an inspiration to those around him. As Cheika observed succinctly: "He (D'Arcy) took us forward all game. He was very determined to have a big game."

Up front, Keith Gleeson was another to excel, his relentless support of the ball-carrier and footballing nous, allowing him to make several big plays.

Stephen Keogh produced a fine display while Malcolm O'Kelly rediscovered the pep in his step on his 50th appearance for Leinster in the competition, and was wonderfully athletic out of touch. His yellow card seemed a little harsh but his team-mates closed ranks in his absence.

The lineout wasn't perfect but better than Gloucester's while the scrum was largely rock-solid. The main area that will concern Leinster is their defensive alignment. At times they committed too many players to the ruck/tackle and were slow to fan out or realign.

A couple of times some players adopted a rush defensive pattern and others a more sedate push towards the ball-carrier, which left a kink in the line. Gloucester centre Anthony Allen made one great break in exploiting this discrepancy.

Cheika was furious at the interval with the try Leinster conceded in first-half injury-time and he wouldn't have been too chipper about Gloucester's first effort where wing Mark Foster slid outside Brian O'Driscoll's grasp, the Leinster captain trying to stem a numerical mismatch.

The Australian admitted: "I was very disappointed going in at half-time in giving away that try. It was real soft. If you saw our dressingroom at half-time you wouldn't have thought we were in front. That was a poor finish to a half we had done well in and we should have maintained that advantage.

"We need to be more determined.Defence is something we're always working on. It's not through lack of desire. We just have to get better at what we're doing and we'll work on that."

Leinster led 30-17 at the interval, thanks to Contepomi's boot - his try was favoured by a large dollop of luck - and further tries from D'Arcy and Keogh, the latter a little contentious from Gloucester's perspective. They felt Trevor Hogan was guilty of taking down a maul inside the Leinster 22 without dwelling on the fact that from perfect ball Ryan Lamb's shocking pass was snapped by up D'Arcy.

Denis Hickie did most of the leg work before offloading in the tackle to the supporting Keogh. Gloucester's young tyros in the backline had shown some nifty footwork themselves in grabbing tries by Foster and Jack Adams but for all their possession and territory they couldn't deliver the points required. The pack were combative, Richards probed and backs showed some nice touches but weren't street-smart enough to make it count definitively.

Leinster weathered O'Kelly's sabbatical on the sideline, notching a fourth try during his absence. Ronan McCormack's sidestep was crucial in the build-up to Shane Horgan's try, the right wing intelligently trailing Hickie on his inside shoulder and showing good strength to get over.

The Irish province now travel to Edinburgh next Sunday, a team who frequently pose them problems, aware that they'll have to improve defensively. Beating Gloucester was an excellent start but the bar now gets appreciably higher.

Scoring sequence: 2 mins: D'Arcy try, Contepomi conversion, 7-0; 5: Lamb penalty, 7-3; 8: Foster try, Lamb conversion, 7-10; 13: Contepomi try, Contepomi conversion, 14-10; 23: Contepomi penalty, 17-10; 26: Contepomi penalty, 20-10; 31: Contepomi penalty, 23-10; 35: Keogh try, Contepomi conversion, 30-10; 40(+2): Adams try, Lamb conversion, 30-17. Half-time: 30-17. 49: Lamb penalty, 30-20; 60: Horgan try, Contepomi conversion, 37-20.

LEINSTER: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll (capt), G D'Arcy, D Hickie; F Contepomi, C Willis; R McCormack, B Blaney, W Green; T Hogan, M O'Kelly; S Keogh, K Gleeson, J Heaslip. Replacements: R Corrigan for Green (68 mins); A Byrnes for Hogan, H Vermaas for Blaney (both 71 mins); O Finegan for Keogh (72 mins); A Dunne for Willis (76 mins). Sinbinned: M O'Kelly (55-65 mins).

GLOUCESTER: I Balshaw; J Bailey, J Adams, A Allen, M Foster; R Lamb, P Richards; C Califano, M Davies, C Nieto; A Eustace, M Bortolami (capt); P Buxton, A Hazell, J Forrester. Replacements: J Boer for Hazell (43 mins); R Lawson for Richards (52 mins); L Mercier for Foster (56 mins); N Wood for Califano (60 mins); J Forster for Eustace, O Azam for Davies (both 68 mins).

Referee: C Berdos (France); replaced by E Gauzins (France) 74 mins.