Edinburgh today went from bogey team to bogus team.
There was only one thing lacking from Leinster in this contest, and that was offensive execution.
Now that may sound strange since we ran in four tries in the first half and collected an away-day bonus-point victory that will be the envy of the rest of the teams in the Heineken Cup.
But if everything Leinster tried on the day had come off, the scoreline would have been a lot closer to the drubbing they handed the same team in the Meaningless League a few weeks ago.
When it came to tactics and defence, we were a class apart from our opponents and although there were a few questionable refereeing decisions and things got a bit tighter in the second half than maybe they should have, the actual result was rarely in doubt.
Clearly Michael Cheika had done his homework and realised that even from deep in side our own 22, punting the ball straight down the field was the way to go and sure enough, when they ran it back at us more often than not we were able to turn it over.
Though it took us a while to get into our stride, it was clear that all we needed was discipline in ball-retention and the tries would come. Rocky Elsom proved that by opening the account with a surge forward from Edinburgh’s 10-metre line.
Then came arguably the defining moment, or at least that is what no doubt home coach Andy Robinson will claim. Having taken a high ball Horgan flung it clearly forward to Dempsey and after a burst from Contepomi and a neat pass, Drico touched down for a killer second.
Though the home crowd, what there was of them in the cavernous Murrayfield, have a legitimate beef, I very much doubt that this decision would have made much of a difference really.
And if things were as they should be and there was an Irish TV network covering this match, I sincerely hope they would have awarded man of the match to Brian O’Driscoll.
Instead, Sky’s so-called experts gave it to Rocky Elsom, and although he did have a good outing, it was more important to Irish rugby that the Leinster number 13 put in a full match display somewhere near his Lions-captaincy form, and with his line-breaks, his passing, his tackling and even sometimes his kicking, Drico was the man in my book.
Of course, there will be a need for improvement as the tournament progresses, particularly in Jackman’s lineout throws.
But overall, five points on the board with three home matches still to come is a perfect position going into next week’s Wasps encounter, and I wouldn’t have swapped today’s score with either the Connacht OR the Munster ones for love nor money.
By the way...it was a struggle to go this long without saying "I told you so" about the need to switch Felipe in to the number 10 slot.
