REACTION LEINSTER MANAGEMENT ENJOY 'NIL' PART AS MUCH AS THE '30': Gerry Thornleyhears Leinster coach Michael Cheika praise Jonathon Sexton in particular, while Munster's Donncha Callaghan is 'embarrassed'

THE MEMORY of Leinster’s 25-6 win at Croke Park five months ago was supposedly going to bring Munster back to the capital with the whiff of vengeance in their nostrils. As it transpired, their 18-0 win here in the corresponding league fixture just over a year ago was the more relevant reference point.

Hence, as satisfying as the “30” was, Leinster would almost have enjoyed the “nil” part as much.

“After last year when we got beaten at home convincingly it was very important for us to make sure our fans didn’t have to go through that again this season because it’s not a pleasant experience to get beaten by your arch rivals at home,” said coach Michael Cheika.

“I thought the players stuck to their job pretty well tonight, all night, they didn’t really take their foot off. Their was periods when Munster started to get back into the game and they were able to halt that and get themselves back into the ascendancy. It was a job well done.”

An aggregate of 55-6 over the last two games might suggest the shift in the balance of power has been completed, but there have been lob-sided wins before in this volatile fixture and Cheika was wise enough to concede, “the scoreline flattered us a little bit, to be honest”, and added, “it’s still early days, for us and for them, and there’s a long way to go in the season.”

The Leinster coach was particularly pleased with the way his team “stayed on the job all night” and for this, he paid special tribute to Jonathan Sexton.

“I think he was one of the reasons we maintained our consistency throughout the game. He guided us around nicely. In different patches where maybe he is still getting used to playing full 80 minutes at that level other guys came in and looked after him a few times,” said Cheika, referring to the times even Shane Horgan and Luke Fitzgerald came off their wings to be first receiver.

“I thought Eoin Reddan gave him great service and then took opportunities to run, so he had help as well and that’s what it’s about for any five-eighth, having help on either side.”

His counterpart, Tony McGahan, now faces the most critical week of his tenure after admitting the performance was not acceptable.

“The dressingroom was very frank and I’m sure the players, when we get together on Tuesday, the management’s assessment of that will come together and we’ll go forward from here.”

He admitted to being shocked by the scale of the defeat.

“We certainly thought coming here this evening that we weren’t going to be outstanding, that we’d put in a really resilient performance at the least. To come away with nothing to hang on to at this stage, we’ll need a response this week.

“In every facet we were second best and I think that’s a bit of us but I think you have to pay credit to Leinster too, I thought they are excellent. They came to play. The scoreboard doesn’t in some cases reflect but I thought this evening it certainly did.”

There’ll be some soul-searching this week before the demanding Heineken Cup opener away to Northampton.

“We have a quality dressingroom with quality senior players so you would expect that we would get a response this week,” said McGahan, adding: “We certainly thought there was no part of our game that was anywhere near where it needed to be and I think against a good side we were badly exposed.”

The soul-searching had already started in the dressingroom given Donncha O’Callaghan’s candid assessment.

“It’s hugely disappointing. To lose a derby game is disappointing but it was the manner we lost it. Totally dominated, really. We came out second best in every area. We were blown off the pitch.

“It was tough enough against the wind but then to get opened up is hugely disappointing . . . Full credit to them, they put us to the pump and won all the contact areas.

“Their hunger was greater than us and that is the disappointing thing for us. That is why it is embarrassing.”

As O’Callaghan admitted, it’s more up to the players now than the coaches, in some respects.

“I have no doubt that Dumper and Laurie will do the work but it’s not about them, this is a players’ thing.”