THE ALMOST haunting echoes of Murrayfield don't lend themselves to excessive celebrations, and having exorcised many of their past demons here Leinster weren't inclined to shout from the rooftops.

But having made off with a five-point bounty, they could enjoy the quiet satisfaction of taking a significant scalp.

"The one thing I have learned from coming up here is that you have to hold your nerve," said Michael Cheika. "In the past we haven't and this time as a coaching staff we said this was going down to the wire no matter what and prepared ourselves.

"We never even entertained the possibility of getting a bonus point . . . but it was just about keeping our nerve, keeping our selves together and staying within our structure, and let the natural talents of the players do their bit.

"We did some good things but I'd say there's no way we're getting carried away with the match. It was a good opening for us but there's a lot of things we need to improve for next week's match."

Leinster had learned from previously unproductive treks here. Not alone did they emphasise the importance of keeping their nerve in a more measured build-up to the game, they adjusted their defence, as Cheika highlighted.

"We were still moving up in a line towards the end of the game, tackling in behind the gain line, looking to get the ball off the opposition. They play with a lot of width and sometimes you can get intimidated by width, like by chasing a ruck over here and a ruck over there and they'll eventually outflank you, and we were pretty disciplined. But we just applied ourselves to the job better.

"Our physicality was better than we have been here before and the attention to detail in some of our play was good. That's something we need to improve, because there were patches of the game where we drifted out a little bit and we've got a massive challenge next week."

Tryless for over two-and-a-half games, they suddenly grabbed them in a rush of four with Rocky Elsom, Brian O'Driscoll, Felipe Contepomi and Shane Horgan all scoring their first of the season. In O'Driscoll's case, it was his first for Leinster in 21 months.

"I think he's playing good footie," remarked Cheika. "He's really evolving into a player who works for his team and then, when his moments come, he takes them. He's understanding that and that's the evolution of players when they get to a certain time in their career.

"And the amount of work he was doing for the team, in the back field, at the ruck and then taking the opportunities when they came I thought was good for him."

Cheika reckoned the barren spell was just one of those quirks, adding, "The act of scoring in itself is the big thing," but admitting, "I was happy when he scored. And he's enjoying his football. He had to make a tactical change today too because he was switching between 12 and 13 all game, and he had to keep an eye on Luke (Fitzgerald) as well, who I thought did very well."

"Since the draw was made we've been building up for this," admitted the Leinster captain Leo Cullen, "especially the fact it's first up. We obviously haven't had the best record here.

"The performance was quite good in the first half. I think we may have been guilty of stopping playing in the second half. We struggled to win quality ball - it's the worst our lineout has performed all year . . . We were very clinical and took our chances well, which is probably the difference compared to other visits here."

Applying "attention to detail" was a mantra afterwards and will be the key again this week, according to Cullen.

"Our set-piece has to improve from being a little scrappy. Wasps are a very physical team, very direct. It's important we're really switched on in terms of the level of contact we have. That's what they do, they try to bully teams.

"They have a very good away record, they like their collisions and they've a very aggressive defence. They're a very good team."

Having lamented the refereeing and missed opportunities, while accepting responsibility for letting down the Edinburgh public, Andy Robinson said, "That Leinster team, if you've watched the game, were there for the taking. They weren't as slick as I've seen them. However, when they got in behind us they took their chances. And credit to them for the way they finished off their chances. However, it's unacceptable to me they got in those positions because it was all to do with missed tackles . . . Today, we dropped off tackles and Leinster finished beautifully."