A Leinster in prime nick (i.e., prospective European champions), or say the Auckland Blues, would assuredly have put 40 or 50 points on the scoreboard, given their possession, territory and openings.

But in a sense it was always to be expected. Leinster will be better primed in a fortnight's time, and the late scare might even be no bad thing.

"We were at our most vulnerable today in terms of ourselves, not the opposition," maintained Matt Williams afterwards. "I'm a lot happier about where we are today. We didn't get through all our patterns today. We got through a certain amount just to get us into this game because of the lack of time. By the next two weeks we'll have even more back in the tank, to where we were in January, and if we're lucky enough to win that game (semi-final) there'll be even more after that."

Leinster's continuity and creativity could easily have led to a rout, and would have if they had been more clinical and the secondary defence of Biarritz not been so excellent; the French team were very good at scampering back, regrouping and forming a new line of defence.

Nevertheless, much of the performance, and in particular the refreshed performances of several of their main men, not least a free-running Brian O'Driscoll, was a tribute to the Leinster man-management. Like Keith Gleeson, O'Driscoll, given over a week off, was recharged and it showed.

"It was brilliant to see Drico with the ball in his hand and run," said Williams. "I promised him I'd mention his lack of success with another field goal in this meeting because he shouldn't be doing them," said Williams, grinning but still chastising the Leinster talisman. "But when he got the ball and ran it was Brian O'Driscoll. God's reached down and touched him to run with the ball in his hand and he should do it more often."

When the stand-in Leinster captain was brought along to take over from Williams in the post-match briefings, the coach chided him some more. "Brian, tell us about that field goal?"

It was a strangely muted day, a new Leinster/rugby public which largely sat back and waited to be sated. "I thought the crowd were magnificent, and I won't say a word of criticism about them," maintained Williams, "but it was hard for us to play the rugby that they wanted to see. I thought in the first half we did but we couldn't get the points on the board. It was a very new day and a very new experience for everyone. I think the next time around there'll be a little bit more there."

With that in mind, while Llanelli's slightly self-destructive defeat to Perpignan on Friday night would have disappointed a few of the organisers and sponsors as well as the Welsh outfit as it ended interest in the competition from that country, it was a bonus for the Leinster branch and by extension, the province's supporters.

Llanelli might reasonably have been expected to bring 10-15,000 supporters, whereas the Basque club will scarcely bring 1-2,000, thereby freeing up more tickets for home supporters. To further boost Leinster's morale, their absentee captain, Reggie Corrigan, was adamant he would be fit for the semi-final, as might Shane Horgan.

Williams admitted he was surprised Llanelli had not reached the appointed Lansdowne Road semi-final. "The point is I'm very happy to play another French side, as in it's a different style. If you play French teams you get onto a wavelength of how they play. It's not the shock of playing a different culture, if you know what I mean. Plus, because they've played Munster and we know Munster as friends, we're not unhappy about that either.

"But they're all good sides. You don't win at Stradey, run Munster close in Munster and then give Munster a fair beating at home without being a very, very good side."

Williams pointed out that Brian O'Meara had kicked brilliantly for the Irish As in their win over England and for Leinster most of the season. It's also worth recalling his four from four in the 12-9 home win over Montferrand was a cool-as-cucumber, match-winning effort. But since then he's had three bad days at the office in the goal-kicking department. Privately, it must be a concern.