RUGBY:THE BEST team in Ireland, Wales and Scotland over a nine-month, 18-match campaign through autumn, a very long winter and a whiff of summer were . . . Leinster. Left trailing in their wake were, among others, Munster, Cardiff and the Ospreys, all of whom they beat home and away. Hats off and let's hear it then: Allez les Bleus!

To be crowned Magners League champions of 2007-08 in their own right is worth declaring and appreciating, a point all concerned were keen to emphasise amid any questioning about what this represented for the future.

"Allez le Roux" chanted the fans as Ollie addressed them in valedictory mode in the Shelbourne bar inside the RDS. As they showed in their six-try romp against the toothless Dragons, when at their best, there is no better team to watch in Europe.

After missing out on the last weekend over the previous two seasons, and receiving nothing but brickbats as a result, a team that is among the best-supported in Europe were entitled to party the rest of the bank holiday weekend.

So, asked where Leinster stood in the bigger scheme of things, coach Michael Cheika conceded: "Probably where our European ranking has us - just outside the top tier. We need to be more consistent on the big day, to be right up there. And that's our goal, no doubt about it. We're hungry for it. I don't want to talk about next year - I want to enjoy this year now - but we're hungry for it. They are and we are."

The memories of Edinburgh in the Heineken Cup and Murrayfield especially will never go away but Felipe Contepomi, who scored his 1,000th point for Leinster during this game, grew a tad exasperated when asked to put this triumph in the context of Europe.

"I think here in Ireland, they are all obsessed with Europe and European Cups but I think the important thing for Leinster is winning games."

Citing the multinational, nouveaux riches Parisians of Stade Français, who have never won the Heineken Cup, Contepomi added: "A league will show if you are consistent and you are performing well. In a cup, you can be out if you have a bad game and even if you are unlucky in one game you are out. Hopefully, this is a stepping stone for European silverware but I would like to take it step by step.

"We have won the Magners League this year. Now we need to keep performing and being entertaining and being top of this league next year and hopefully if you earn chances of a European Cup that would be the icing on the cake but you can't build the pressure: we won the Celtic League, now for the European Cup. You need to keep performing consistently. That will give you the best chance."

The evening even allowed Cheika, happy to let the players spray the champagne, to afford choreographed goodbyes for Keith Gleeson and le Roux in their farewell games for the province.

Having already secured the Auckland Blues goalkicking, utility back Isa Nacewa, and having been linked strongly with CJ van der Linden and the dynamic Waratahs and Wallabies backrower Rocky Elsom, Cheika was again reluctant to speculate aloud about players still under contract elsewhere.

While van der Linden helps fill the sizeable void left by le Roux, Gleeson's performance underlined how difficult he will be to replace, and Elsom certainly would not be like for like. Sure, Shane Jennings can step up to the plate but on Saturday Gleeson gave a personal masterclass in the art of a continuity openside.

"It's probably some of the best I've seen him play on his feet," said Cheika. "We've spoken a lot about that, because if we can stay on our feet, we can get ball at the breakdown or at the ruck . . . he said the whole time he wanted to go out at the top of his game and I think it was quite a good reflection on him getting man of the match. His play on the ground was outstanding."

For seven seasons Gleeson has been the glue that invariably made Leinster gel on their best days. He should have gone to the World Cup, and his omission was probably what set the goal-driven 31-year-old in retirement mode.

"He's been fantastic," admitted Brian O'Driscoll. "I think a few of us have tried to persuade him to play on for one more season but his mind is made up. Since his ankle break, he just feels he's not quite playing to a standard he wishes to . . . I know he has plans to go off and do other things and he just felt now is the time. But he's been enormous for Leinster. Any time Leinster were good, Gleeson was one of the catalysts for us. He will be a big loss."

In the context of how Leinster still must try to fully maximise a collection of backs as potent as any in Europe, he'll take some replacing all right.