Maybe time to cut Leinster some slack

On Rugby:Matt Williams once observed that Leinster receive a much more critical press and hence more critical public analysis than their Munster brethren. Against that, it could be argued that over the years Munster earned their latitude the hard way, whereas Leinster too often flattered to deceive. But Williams had a point.

That thought occurred again on Saturday that perhaps it's time to cut Leinster some slack. For the fourth time in a month, at four different venues, they helped attract a full house. Notably thanks to the marketing coup that was "The Last Stand" on New Year's Eve, Leinster as much as anyone have made the last few weeks the bumper month to end all bumper months so far for the league.

The surfeit of festive derbies, coupled with the 20,000-plus crowd that witnessed the Ospreys putting 50 points on Llanelli, underlined again how the marketing of Scottish rugby is languishing well behind their Celtic brethren. Scarcely 2,000 saw their big derby between Glasgow and Edinburgh, in keeping with the relatively minuscule crowds that have turned up at Scottish grounds, even in the supposed heartland of the Borders when a star-studded Biarritz came calling. That should serve as a salient reminder that these are golden times for Irish rugby.

Well refereed by Scotland's Malcolm Changleng, admittedly Saturday was Leinster's kind of match on what remains a well manicured Donnybrook surface, until that is, the daily dose of the cash cow and sacred cow that is the Leinster Schools' Senior Cup tears it up during February.

What's more it had shades of one of those fait accompli home wins that adorn the French Championship on a weekly basis. Playing their fourth game in 14 days, the Ospreys' coach Lynn Jones had effectively thrown his hat at the game after targeting the home win over Llanelli and next week's rendezvous with French runaway leaders Stade Francais (who contrived to lose at bottom club Bayonne on Saturday).

In this, and in Llanelli's festive freefall from second to sixth in the table, the Welsh are suffering for the backlog of fixtures caused by the Anglo-Welsh cup.

Despite the 45-22 win, the Leinster players and coach Michael Cheika especially, were palpably unfulfilled afterwards. They wanted the Ospreys' best game, but didn't get it. Leinster's attitude to the league, no less than Ulster's, is refreshing. No doubt all Munster's withdrawals from their game away to the Dragons on Friday were genuine, but as an aside the reprise of their under-strength defeat at Rodney Parade last season has left Connacht five points adrift of their main rivals for that last qualifying route into the Heineken European Cup, and with two games more played.

In any event, Leinster know they should have put the Ospreys away even sooner than they did in their three-try, 21-point blitz in the third quarter, and that the customary spate of replacements - a blight on so many games these days - stemmed their flow.

Even so, there was no team in any of the major European leagues that scored such a quantity or quality of tries over the weekend. Six of the very best.

Indeed, is there a better team to watch in Europe? It could be argued a backline of all the talents should be capable of this, and that a tailor's dummy could coach them to do it. But the way some of the scores were executed had the hallmarks of the Cheika-David Knox influence.

Take their second try. In making one of five clean line breaks Gordon D'Arcy didn't throw out a Hail Mary pass when confronted by the last man, but took the tackle and waited a few crucial seconds until Brian O'Driscoll had time to cut in from 15 metres to D'Arcy's outside and take the short offload to break clear for the score. For a team that makes so many linebreaks, they could arguably convert more of them, but D'Arcy's calmness was in large part the product of work on the training ground to that very end.

The score which Ross McCarron laid on for the supporting Keith Gleeson on his inside was a variation in finishing the set move which Leinster have used before, most notably in cutting Munster apart in Lansdowne Road; arguably the set-piece try of the season so far. One of the coaching staff's few blips was not to have plumped for Jonathan Sexton as Felipe Contepomi's understudy sooner, for he is not registered for Europe.

With only one forward deemed even worthy of a place on a full-strength Irish bench, as important was the ever-improving work of an increasingly tight-knit pack in providing go-forward ball. One defeat in their last eight games, and that an eminently forgivable one at Thomond Park, leaves them in pretty good nick facing into the crunch European Cup pool games against Edinburgh and away to Gloucester on Friday week.

Furthermore, Contepomi and Will Green have inched their way back to form and fitness, Bernard Jackman and Stephen Keogh have come good, Cameron Jowitt's all-action effort against the Ospreys has added to the options, while Cheika's persistence and loyalty with Robert Kearney has been rewarded. Meantime, Shane Jennings has been resigned, talks are ongoing with Leo Cullen and other signings are in the offing while the move to the RDS can't come soon enough. Next Saturday the vengeful mission against Edinburgh will provide even more undeniable evidence that Leinster have outgrown Donnybrook. In a city the size of Dublin, with the talent Leinster have, that's not before time.

For better or worse, Gloucester's trek to Agen on Friday night will leave Leinster knowing exactly what's required of them to maintain their four-point lead over the Cherry and Whites.

That could give them invaluable breathing space for then Gloucester would have to match Leinster's five points to nil match haul from the first meeting in Lansdowne Road to top the group. Ultimately, with a "home" quarter-final abroad in mind, no less than Munster, Leinster may well have to keep winning to complete a double over resurgent, in-form and vengeful English opposition on what promises to be a typically tumultuous final weekend in the pool stages.

Semi-finalists in the Cup and runners-up by just a point in the league, once again Leinster are emerging as Ulster's main challengers in the league and are well set for Euro qualification. Indeed, but for Joel Jutge's 19-6 penalty count in Edinburgh, Leinster would now be one of the top two ranked teams across the six pools.

The critics will maintain that they don't have the variety or forward strength to win the European Cup, but they're emerging as real contenders again. So maybe it's time to cut them some slack. They're good to watch and there aren't many teams like them on the planet.