HEINEKEN CUP SEMI-FINAL: A tense game, with too many mistakes, but JOHN O'SULLIVANhears there is an innate belief among Leinster's players that they can grind out results

THE FACES changed as a handful of Leinster players articulated their thoughts on a fraught afternoon at the Aviva Stadium, but the mantra remained the same, highlighting their delight in winning a fiercely-contested semi-final against Toulouse but acknowledging that the performance had a curate’s egg hue.

It’s difficult to be coldly analytical in the minutes after such a pulsating encounter but what is heartening as Leinster prepare for a final in Cardiff is their appraisal that the report card from Saturday’s game should bear the mark, “can do better”. This wasn’t about denigrating the challenge that four-time champions Toulouse mustered or some woolly notion of utopia in performance terms, more a reflection of the mistakes that pockmarked the display.

Brian O’Driscoll, one of Leinster’s two try scorers, pointed out: “We were a little bit flat, particularly in that first half and didn’t help ourselves but to grind out a result in a European semi-final you need a little bit of luck. It’s the games where you perhaps don’t play at your very best but still get over the line that give you a chance to win some silverware; we have done that.

“That (game) was like a Test match; that was the intensity and calibre of game it was. You realise that it takes an awful lot to get to the semi-final and final of the Heineken Cup and sides aren’t going to roll over, especially the current champions. We saw right to the death how they gave themselves a chance to win it, even when they were nine points down.”

It was a theme to which Seán O’Brien subscribed: “We know deep down we can play an awful lot better than today. That’s something to look forward to as well. I think the way the squad is, the team is, the way it’s all been for a while is that we have that attitude that we can win these games, tight games.

“(We can) come from behind and win games, even if it’s in the last minute. I think we have that belief there now and it’s there a long time. I think it was more about character than anything else today, especially when we did go behind.”

O’Driscoll was philosophical about the yellow card he received pointing out that he had spoken to referee Dave Pearson after watching a reprise of the incident on the stadium’s big screen, suggesting he might have been entitled to play the ball as no ruck had been formed, but did add the rider that in the circumstances the onus might still have been on him to attack the ball from a clearly onside position.

It was one snapshot of the all-consuming commitment demonstrated by the Leinster players. It was an observation that also percolated through O’Brien’s recollections. “We spoke about winning those 50-50 balls, getting those chances. That commitment is there now, lads jumping into things head first and not really caring about what way they do it, just trying to get the ball back. We worked very hard. It was hot; a hard, fast game obviously as well. It paid off in the end but it was hard work.” He dismissed his contretemps with Toulouse flanker Yannick Nyanga as “handbags,” the pair clashing as O’Brien was illegally impeded for Louis Picamoles’ try and his reaction to the jersey pulling.

Isaac Boss provided a view from the bench before his introduction. Joe Schmidt used his replacements shrewdly and to good effect. Boss admitted: “When Heinke (van der Merwe) came on for Cian (Healy) and we had that strong scrum, that was one of the crucial parts of the match. That’s what you want from your bench.

“Everyone is fighting for positions so when you come on you want to put pressure on. You have to add something when guys are tired. I am looking at what we can do better. It was a very soft try we gave them at the start. It’s almost a cardinal sin in rugby these days to let a team in for a soft try like that. We bounced back which is a credit to our character.

“The final score-line doesn’t reflect the game. They had chances down our end as well. We managed to get away with it a couple of times. One phase goes a different way and it could have been a completely different story. We realise that so we are not going to get carried away.

“Cardiff is where we have always wanted to be but like Joe (Schmidt) said in the shed after the game, we have won nothing yet. To get to Cardiff and come away empty handed; it sort of means nothing. No one is going to remember you just because you got to a final. We want to get there and win some silverware. We have a lot of work to do before then.”