Munster, meanwhile, could put the ball through 20 phases without so much as putting a dent in the opposition. They were at it again in Newport despite a rapid-fire opening try from Trevor Halstead which combined brute force, exemplary clearing-out and quick hands all in one move.

But from there on in they struggled to make in-roads against a Dragons side who were well organised without being exceptional.

They had plenty of possession but, once again, their back play was narrow and almost completely uninventive. They weren't helped by the loss of Jeremy Manning on 27 minutes. Manning was stretchered off having lost consciousness on the field following a tackle on Hal Luscombe but, before his departure, the young out-half looked sharp with the ball in hand and his kicking wasn't half bad either.

When he came on, Paul Burke didn't offer any kind of threat and Munster will be hoping Ronan O'Gara's gashed knee clears up in the coming days. Even that, though, isn't their biggest worry as they still haven't got a viable replacement for Barry Murphy at outsidecentre. Tomas O'Leary was named at 13 for Friday's game but he hardly played a minute in the role, John Kelly instead stepping into the slot and the scrum-half playing most of the game on the right wing.

Not that it mattered. Kelly is a clever player and always seems to take the right option on the ball but he's no game breaker and he rarely threatened to pierce the Dragons defensive line. Mike Mullins did come off the bench for the last 20 minutes or so but he couldn't make an impact either in the position that's rapidly becoming the province's bete noire.

The worry now is that there's nobody left to try.

Shaun Payne still appears to be the best option for the position but he's not likely to be shoved up the pitch from fullback unless there's a viable replacement at 15. On that front, Christian Cullen needs to start and perform against Glasgow on Saturday if he's to figure in the plans for the Leinster game. Funnily enough the best number 13 in Munster at the moment appears to be Keith Earls, the St Munchin's College and Ireland under-19 player. He's not named in the province's Heineken Cup squad and is therefore not an option but as a physically strong, aggressive, quick-running 13, how Declan Kidney must wish that his development had come to his attention that little bit sooner.

Leinster, on the other hand, have all the pieces in place and it seems to simply be a matter of fine-tuning in the coming weeks. Against the Borders their concentration levels were far below normal, there were a plethora of handling mistakes, their set-piece was far from secure and defensively Cheika's side were all over the place.

But, as we've said already, they won, they now top the Celtic League for the first time in their history and most importantly, they appear to be able to score neatly constructed tries off very little possession. A nice little trick if you can master it.

Besides that, what the Leinster coach will have learned from Friday is that his experiment of playing two number sevens in the backrow, Keith Gleeson and Niall Ronan, didn't really work.

There were a couple of moments when you could see the benefit of two open-sides on the park . . . the handling before Will Green's try in particular . . . but defensively and around the fringes the presence of a genuine number six appeared to be missing. In a team of footballers, Leinster need the presence of a destructive presence like Cameron Jowitt, not a flyer like Ronan.

So both teams look forward to a couple of decent tests next weekend, Leinster against Llanelli on Friday while Munster are at home against Glasgow the following evening. For Leinster, it's just a matter of keeping the machine ticking over, while their rivals are still attempting to put a few final pieces in place. Munster desperately need to get Cullen on the park from the start, inject a bit more variety into their back play and also hope that Denis Leamy, Marcus Horan and Ronan O'Gara are at least available for action, even if they're not selected. Another vital weekend.