Ten minutes into Leinster's European Cup campaign at Donnybrook, with the home side leading 3-0, Toulouse had Leinster stretched to breaking point when full-back Nicolas Jeanjean stepped inside the 22 and saw a clear run to the line. However, Keith Gleeson ran a superb defensive line to crunch Jeanjean into the ground side-on and force a turnover penalty. So began the pattern of the night.
Gleeson was a regular thorn in the French side, taking his tackle count into double figures and forcing four turnovers off French ball in contact inside the Leinster 22.
Just past the hour Toulouse seemed sure to score when Andrea Lo Cicero was stopped short of the line by Gleeson and the French forwards piled in with Leinster backpedalling. Gleeson stayed on his feet and, while taking a fearful battering, plucked the ball off the deck in classic, modern-day openside mould to earn another turnover penalty when frustrated Toulouse forwards played the ball on the deck. Groggily, he got to his feet and nearly fell over when Leo Cullen gave him a grateful smack on the back.
If it's been his defensive work that's mostly caught the eye (he led the way with 20 tackles against Newcastle), the former New South Wales flanker can clearly play a bit too, judging by his support run for a Denis Hickie break and, against Newcastle, the clever one-handed intercept and offload for Leinster's final try by Brian O'Driscoll.
In both games Gleeson was a contender for man of the match, and he looks a shoo-in for the Ireland A squad to play New Zealand in Ravenhill in two-and-a-half weeks' time as a stepping stone to a much cherished cap. He wants it alright, and isn't shy about admitting it either.
There's an ironic symmetry to Keith Gleeson's life and career so far. Born in Ireland, though largely reared in Australia and a product of their rugby system, it's through the Irish system that he is now set to flourish.
Having gone to school in St Michael's, Dublin, at the end of 1983 his family emigrated to Sydney when he was seven. His Irish father and Australian mother had lived in Canada for 10 years but reckoned there would be more opportunities longer-term for their three boys in Australia. "It's kind of ironic the way, 15 years down the track, the economy has turned around and people are now coming back into the country, myself included."
Though he didn't attend a noted rugby school (St Aloysius), through schoolboy trials he played his way into the NSW under-19s. "And once you're in the system, it's harder to get out than it is to get in," says Gleeson, who captained the Australian under-21s in his second season with them before Matt Williams brought him into the NSW Waratahs professional set-up in 1998.
In two seasons under Williams he progressed to the point where he started two and appeared in six Super 12 games in 1999, helping New South Wales beat Ireland in Sydney in Williams' last game that summer.
At the end of the tour the Irish management approached Gleeson about declaring for the country of his birth. "I'd come through the Australian under-21s and to a certain extent could not see myself not playing for Australia, but I guess life doesn't always work out like you planned it, and I find myself here."
At the Waratahs, Williams' successors, Ian Kennedy and Bob Dwyer, showed a preference for Phil Waugh.
"I guess it just came down to coaches' preferences, the way these things sometimes do. I still believe I'm good enough and I believe I'm better, but it's a case of being picked and being able to prove it," says Gleeson. So when Williams approached him once more, Gleeson grabbed the opportunity, his play and his leadership commanding respect, according to the coach.
"He's a typical Celt," adds Williams. "He wasn't a big guy, but he's worked enormously hard and now he's very powerful. Put it this way, he's bigger than Neil Back. It's taken him a long time to get there, he's done his hard yards, he's played Super 12, he's done all the age-groups, he's played against the Africans and the Kiwis and won, and he brings great confidence to the team. And he's just coming into his best."
Gleeson says the experience has been better than he expected. "I've been very impressed. It's no different to what Australia has. We have excellent facilities, Matt's got an excellent management team around him."
Revelling in a chance to prove himself at a standard which he says is on a par with Super 12, Gleeson is happy with his form and admits he benefits from the expansive way Leinster are trying to play.
"There are opportunities there for someone like myself to do what I do best, which is to link with them, keep distributing ball, keep recycling it, and be able to get the ball in my own hands on occasion. I'm not built like David Wallace or Eric Miller to be honest, I'm more a support player and create opportunities a little further out wide."
He misses his parents and his grandmother, whom he's particularly close to, and as the former Gloucester centre Richard Tombs warned him, he's already missed friends' weddings and the like. But the transition to the Irish way of life has been made easier by his extended family here. "Going overseas is a way to broaden your own perspective of the world, move outside your comfort zone and meet new people. I've certainly enjoyed it, the Leinster guys have been great and having a good friend and a cousin (Ciaran) who runs a pub (in Booterstown Avenue) can't be such a bad thing," he laughs.
Qualified as a "financial planner" with a career in the family business marked out, Gleeson is a 25-year-old with ambitions, and he's in a hurry. "Very much so. I didn't see the point in going to France or anywhere else in Europe just to play rugby for the money. The whole aim in coming to Dublin was to play for Ireland."
