Both arguments probably have a resonance of truth about them, but don't mention Munster's apparent lack of interest in anything other than the Heineken Cup in the vicinity of Paul O'Connell.

"We were a long way off where we should be and it's worrying, it definitely is, " said Munster's captain in the immediate aftermath of the game. "We didn't want to come to the stage where after the highs of last year, we had to have a disappointing loss to have a look at ourselves. I suppose it's better that it happened now than in two weeks' time at Welford Road. We're going to have a good look at ourselves and hopefully you'll see a different team in the coming weeks."

With the sweat still fresh on his shirt, O'Connell was able to pinpoint where his team had lost the game. "We were unbelievably poor, particularly at the breakdown.

You need to be aggressive, you need to be low and you need to the first to the ball and that sharpness wasn't there for us. The ruck is always a good measure of the intensity you're playing with and we just weren't there against Leinster."

It's an area that Leinster have been working upon, apparently, and it showed.

They turned Munster over with some frequency over the course of the game, with Keith Gleeson, Gordon D'Arcy and Brian O'Driscoll hugely prolific on the ground.

"We've been working really hard this year on our continuity at the breakdown, " said Michael Cheika, "how we deliver the ball, the way we support the ball deliverer and I think it's been a positive part of our game over the past few weeks. I know our pack's been a little vilified because we've been losing a bit of ball at set-piece, and that's fair enough too, but our play on the ground, and winning the ball for our attack, is hugely important. It seems to be working well for us."

The key factor in Friday's game was that Leinster looked infinitely more capable of doing something with all the ball they secured at the breakdown. Their potent backline, which has only been back together two weeks now, look in irresistible form, Shane Horgan's try a wonderful example of the gang in full flow.

Munster, meanwhile, trundled about the place with relatively few ideas out wide, although their patch work backline . . . an out-half at fullback, a scrum-half on the wing, a winger in the centre . . .

did seem to have a fair bit of space to operate in at times.

They're going to have to figure out how to utilise it better in the coming weeks, especially with the Heineken Cup on the horizon.

"We're two games away from Leicester now and there's a lot of work to do, " said O'Connell. "We have a massive game in the Celtic League next weekend (against Edinburgh), one that we need to win to keep our chances of winning the title alive. We need to be tuned-in but we're still a long way off that right now."

For Leinster, things are a fair bit more optimistic but that's often the time when things start to fall apart. "We won't be getting carried away with this, " said Cheika. "The boys are mature footballers, they know that winning this game doesn't get us anything other than the four points we've earned from it because we could meet again this year and it would be completely different. Mentally, I think it will give us a lot of confidence to know that we can mix it with the best team in Europe."

Sensible talk from Cheika, although the Australian did have an Arsene Wenger moment when asked whether Felipe Contepomi should have been sent off, for either decking Donncha O'Callaghan early-on or aiming a kick at a couple of Munster players after his route was interrupted in midfield in the second period.

"There's a lot of tension out there, a lot of pressure and I thought everybody handled themselves pretty well. Nothing spilt over. There were moments in the game that got hot but everybody got over it and got on with their game."

He's right, it didn't spill over, but the fabulous Contepomi will have to control his temper a little better if he's to be of any worth to his team in the future.