RUGBY:No rest for the winners. Many of the Leinster players who were gathering their kitbags off a carousel around 1am yesterday in Dublin Airport would be back there for a 6.40am flight to Portugal and a mid-season conditioning camp in Portugal this week. Faintly ridiculous really.
They were also joined by their provincial brethren, which for Munster's more numerous Ireland contingent would have meant marginally more respite after their bonus-point win over Cardiff.
In Portugal, they can all reflect on a 14th clean sweep by the three Irish provinces in the Heineken European Cup and no doubt look forward to a couple of tasty and testy rounds of "interpro" Magners Celtic League matches over the Christmas.
Munster are inviting Leinster to grace the hallowed Thomond Park turf for the first time in 11 years on December 27th, the day after Connacht visit Ulster. Leinster host Ulster in "The Last Stand" on New Year's Eve, when Connacht welcome Munster to Galway. They should just about have a time for a turkey sandwich with their families on Christmas Day. By rights, they deserve a glass of wine too.
Alas, in another compelling Cup weekend, results in their groups were not especially favourable. Llanelli's thrilling, albeit controversial, win over Toulouse effectively rules out the possibility of Ulster topping Pool Five and with only the slimmest chance of going through as runners-up even if they pick up maximum points at home to the Scarlets and away to the French.
Leicester secured a facile bonus point against Bourgoin, and so even if Munster take maximum points from Geneva on January 14th, it's likely Leicester will stay within touching distance courtesy of their home game with Cardiff, thereby making the last-day Pool Four showdown another fittingly epic finale at Thomond Park before its redevelopment.
Similarly, Gloucester look like chasing Leinster all the way home to another Anglo-Irish showdown in their Pool Two finale in Kingsholm on the third weekend in January after their bonus-point win in Murrayfield yesterday.
With Michael Cheika's side at home to Edinburgh in Donnybrook in the penultimate round, victory there coupled with a defeat for Gloucester in Agen the night before would mean Leinster topping the pool. But were Gloucester to win in Agen, who are now effectively out of contention, then first place in the pool would go down to Gloucester's meeting with Leinster in Kingsholm on the final weekend.
What's more, Northampton look sure to claim one of the two best runners-up slots from Pool Six, the Group of Slumber. Against that, two more wins would ensure Munster a "home" quarter-final, albeit not in Ireland unless Croke Park suddenly became available, and likewise, most likely, for Leinster. But for the moment, neither would be inclined to tempt fate by openly discussing potential venues in England or Wales.
Munster, ever the drama kings, had typically hogged the thrills and spills in the aftermath of Leinster's heroics in Agen, but no one could dispute the latter was the most impressive Irish win over the weekend. Leinster are in pole position, but they still need a couple of ultra-efficient pit-stops to claim the chequered flag in Pool Two.
"It's so hard to win away in France," admitted Denis Hickie, "and it's been very hard in a general sense for Leinster over the years, but actually all we've done is put ourselves back in a position where we might win the group.
"We're certainly not through yet and we're not even guaranteed qualification yet because we've got two matches and we've got to win both of them really. Having been beaten by Edinburgh we had to win today and really all that's changed is that we're in the driving seat. But that's all we are, and if we lose our next match we'll be out of the driving seat.
"It's great to win and everyone's very happy, but everyone's mindful that nothing was really achieved today except the points, and we needed them."
Leinster have got out of jail over the last couple of weekends, papering over the lack of a scrum and a reliable goalkicker. "Smarter" was the word Cheika used most often in describing their performance. They are far from the complete article, which Cheika conceded.
"We are the first to acknowledge our own weaknesses and that's an area where we're weak. We've still got confidence in our players and we'll always back ourselves to get a try. Then if we need to we have a kicker there in Andy (Dunne) - and Andy's not just a kicker; you saw that. But it's an issue that we've got to look at. We're hoping (Felipe) Contepomi is not too far away from being back."
Nonetheless, Leinster have put together three big performances in a row, and in contrasting styles: sticking it up their jumpers in Ravenhill, opportunistically putting Agen to the sword in Lansdowne Road and tailoring their tactics with a blend of the two on Saturday after some ropy spells.
Hence, when their talismanic Puma is back, they will arguably bring more to the table than a year ago.
Medical advice is that their Puma doctor won't be back until the new year, at least.
"He, as you boys would know, loves playing against Munster," said Cheika with a broad, knowing smile, "so he will be doing his damnedest to get himself right for that match."
Not one to be missed all right.
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