'We've made a statement in the last few games'

JAMIE HEASLIP’S consistent excellence is beginning to blur the lines between one game and another. His talent and attitude influence in a positive capacity, irrespective of team, whether it’s Leinster, Ireland or the Lions. On Saturday he collected another man-of-the-match accolade, recognition for another paean to high achievement.

His contribution is not solely defined by moments on the ball as he is equally effective covering ever inch of the RDS surface. His display was all-encompassing.

The Scarlets talked the talk over the last fortnight but it amounted to little more than hot air. They spoke about what they would do; Leinster just went out and did it. Heaslip would be too polite to suggest as much, content to instead offer an overview to the province’s latest victory.

“We’re happy. We’ve come out of these rounds of Heineken Cup matches with 10 points and that has put us back in contention. We probably started a bit slow and maybe drifted at times so we probably have to be a bit more clinical and accurate for the full 80 minutes and not pick and choose because other teams will punish us if we do that.

“We struggled to find our shape in that first 20 minutes. I was happy because we were still being really clinical when we got in their half. We were just struggling to get into our pattern but once we got it through the phases they struggled with it.

“We have always been really proud of our defence. Even when teams get inside our 22 they find it difficult to get points off us. We worked hard with Kurt McQuilken. They struggled to break us down and we forced some turnovers.

“They had chances. (Stephen) Jones missed two kicks which could have made it 6-5 and they would have been in the driving seat. We know we gave away some silly penalties and gave them chances to get back in the game but that’s hindsight really, isn’t it? We will look at that game again and realise that we started slow and you can’t really afford that in the Heineken Cup. . . .”

Heaslip smiled when he points out he hasn’t analysed the statistics relating to Pool Six, aware only that Leinster and London Irish continue to be locked together all the while nudging the pair to a seminal clash at the Madejski in January.

“It is going to probably boil down to the last game against them (London Irish) over there. It’s going to be another big game and there will be a massive contingent of Irish supporters come over and support us . . . We have a big game next week (against Ulster) and a bit of time off afterwards so I’ll focus on that and then enjoy New Year’s (Eve).

“Yes we have made a bit of a statement in the last few games. I’m not really worried about how many points we put on them (Scarlets), I was more worried about getting the wins. We weren’t even thinking about bonus points. When we are on our game, we are on our game and we are a good team. We just probably took them by surprise (in Wales) and a lot of people might have written us off because we lost our opening game but we are happy with the return the last two weeks.”