LEINSTER COACH MATT O’Connor was satisfied with his side’s performance and cited leadership as being key in their 21-11 victory over Connacht last night.
A late score at the RDS saw the visitors threaten a last-minute comeback, but it was Leinster who ultimately finished the stronger of the two sides, as a last-gasp Zane Kirchner try secured the win.
And O’Connor said he wasn’t particularly worried, despite Connacht’s try putting the hosts under pressure late on.
“We’ve got some tremendous leaders out there and I thought we were always going to manage that situation. With the wind behind you and the way the game was going, it wasn’t as nerve-racking as it might have been.”
The coach felt Leinster’s experience ultimately proved vital, singling out Shane Jennings and Kevin McLaughlin for special praise, as the hosts improved, particularly in their rucking and tackling.
“We weren’t as accurate as we needed to be against some very good blokes over the ball in those back-to-back games against Harlequins, so it was a focus for us. The inclusion of Jennings and McLoughlin was pretty important in that and their understanding of the game and interpros in particular was very important not only tonight but in the week, so we’ll [continue to] look to the experienced guys.
“There were some genuine improvements there, given where we’d been in recent weeks. Our intent was much better with what we were doing at the breakdown, getting off the line and tackling. It was a pretty pleasing performance.
“I thought we started very well. We were unlucky not to get a bit more in the first half. There was a guy in the bin and we probably didn’t execute it as well as we could have, but I thought it certainly set down a marker for which way the game was going to go.
“In the second half, we didn’t have a lot of opportunities and they controlled possession pretty well, but we did enough to compromise their discipline and kicked a few penalties, which kept our noses in front.
“The composure was very good at that stage. That’s where the game can get away from you and give them a little bit of belief, but I thought we stuck to our guns pretty well at the end and fortunately we got that try.”
O’Connor was wary of the threat posed by Connacht scrum-half, Kieran Marmion, in particular, but felt his team dealt well enough with the Ireland international.
“They didn’t play with a lot of width, which gave us the ability to get more narrow and I thought Marmion was a real threat for them, but I thought we coped well with nullifying his threat. We worked hard in and around the fringes, and there were some key turnovers at critical stages.
The victory consequently sets Leinster up nicely as they prepare for a vital few weeks ahead.
“Momentum’s huge. The four points was very important for us tonight. We knew we needed to put out a performance in the RDS that everyone was proud of in the group.
“The wider community’s a little bit irrelevant to us. It’s all about making sure that people [in the team] are happy with the performance they put out. There was a lot of very good things there — huge improvements and the result was important.”
