Last week the artistry, this week more the artisanship. Without scaling the heights of last week, once again Leinster's brick wall defence was the bedrock of their performance, although they did finished with a flourish to leave Newcastle probably feeling as perplexed as Toulouse last week.
Once more the margin hardly reflected the territorial trend of a fiercely physical contest, but the four tries to nil tally did show which side had the sharper attacking edge and better defence.
The defensive organisation and tackling was excellent, as was the work at the breakdown, where again Keith Gleeson excelled.
The other Aussie recruit, Nathan Spooner, looked understandably disappointed with his general play and three out of seven kicking ratio, though he tackled well. Shane Byrne and Leo Cullen stood out up front, and Shane Horgan and the steady-as-a-rock mistake-free Girvan Dempsey shone at the back.
But not surprisingly, it was the ever-electric Brian O'Driscoll, who capped his display with an acrobatic try, who earned the man of the match award.
Spooner landed his most important kicks, the first two, in response to Jonny Wilkinson's opening penalty. And from Wilkinson's second restart, Newcastle didn't touch the ball until Wilkinson kicked off again.
A brilliant high take by Malcolm O'Kelly was the catalyst for a stirring 20-metre drive by the pack into the Newcastle half. Victor Costello then set up a good target as an auxiliary midfielder, and from the recycle Spooner rounded Tom May with a lovely change of feet.
O'Driscoll straightened onto the ball and Gordon D'Arcy held his width to take the pass and slide in by the corner.
The remainder of the half was played almost exclusively in Leinster's half as they made no impression on Newcastle's lineout.
Whatever Matt Williams and the Leinster think tank said, all changed on the restart. Vital to everything that followed was Shane Byrne snaffling up Spooner's kick-off, and though the referee wrongly adjudged a knock-on off Liam Botham's back, Leinster soon came knocking again.
Eric Miller put Leinster on the front foot off quick lineout ball when O'Meara cleverly held his pass to check Lam, O'Kelly and Costello set up good targets as high-tempo cleaning out by the pack stretched Newcastle. Spooner, O'Driscoll and Horgan combined to put Miller over.
As the rain teemed down though, it soon became a war of attrition, and Wilkinson pinged 48-metre and 42-metre penalties as Spooner and O'Meara missed from similar range. However, Newcastle flanker Richard Arnold did his team no favours by augmenting a high tackle on Gleeson with a punch at D'Arcy to earn a sin-binning.
Leinster went for the jugular, Trevor Brennan adding to the intensity as concerted pressure on the line earned a penalty try.
Gleeson, fittingly, laid on the final blow with a one-handed intercept and clever offload for the supporting O'Driscoll to score gleefully in the corner.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 5 mins: Wilkinson pen 0-3; 7: Spooner pen 3-3; 12: Spooner pen 6-3; 11: D'Arcy try 11-3; (half-time 11-3); 45: Miller try 16-3; 48: Wilkinson pen 16-6; 65: Wilkinson pen 16-9; 74: penalty try, Spooner con 23- 9; 86: O'Driscoll try 28-9.
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; D Hickie, B O'Driscoll, S Horgan, G D'Arcy; N Spooner, B O'Meara; R Corrigan (capt), S Byrne, E Byrne, L Cullen, M O'Kelly, E Miller, V Costello, K Gleeson. Replacements: B Casey for Cullen (57 mins), T Brennan for Costello (71 mins), A Dunne for Spooner (80 mins), B Willis for O'Meara, A Magro for D'Arcy (both 81 mins), G Hickie for S Byrne, P Coyle for E Byrne (both 84 mins).
NEWCASTLE: D Walder; L Botham, I Tuigamala, T May, G Maclure; J Wilkinson, H Charlton; I Peel, N Makin, G Graham, D Weir, S Grimes, J Dunbar, P Lam, R Arnold. Replacements: H Vyvyan for Weir (57 mins), M Ward for Peel (60 mins), E Taione for Dunbar (68 mins), M Stephenson for Maclure (69 mins), B Balshen for Makin (71 mins). Sin-binned: Arnold (67-77 mins). Referee: D Gillet (France).
