RUGBY - Celtic League/ Leinster 9; Cardiff Blues 9: Of the two coaches, Declan Kidney would undoubtedly have been the happier with a share of the points. Cardiff by rights should be kicking themselves all the way back to the Welsh capital for not making their apparent superiority count.
But as they showed in pre-season, the new-model Leinster under Kidney are a tough nut to crack and they again hung on when last season they might have lost.
Leinster had much the better of the first half, only to spend the last quarter on the back foot. Missing most of their prime attacking weapons, they struggled to score points, but they at least made sure a Cardiff side with most of their cutting edges also did.
"We're inclined to put an awful lot of pressure on ourselves and we have to learn how not to put pressure on ourselves," said a reasonably content Kidney afterwards. "The attitude was smashing. We tried really hard and to draw against a very talented Cardiff squad was a good result.
"But I'm just frustrated for the players. Maybe we could have scored more points in the first half and played less of the second half in our own territory. It's a good start," he maintained.
Summer as usual having decided to belatedly arrive in September, the unsociable Sunday tea-time kick-off and the absence of some of Leinster's star attractions didn't deter a healthy attendance of 3,500. The lure was as much, perhaps, to do with someone who wasn't on the pitch, namely Kidney.
Inevitably, the sight of a lush green sod, an expectant crowd and the sun in a clear-blue sky made for plenty of early-season errors. That's the way of these things.
Nevertheless, it was an encouraging start to begin with for Leinster's young tyros. Against a Cardiff team with a dozen full internationals, a lighter Leinster were probably better suited by the conditions, and though they rarely threatened to cut Cardiff open, their tackle line stood up impressively and they played for territory cleverly for much of the first half.
Leo Cullen showed them the way literally from the kick-off, chasing down McAllister's drop kick for Gavin Hickie to scoop up the tap-down. When Kort Schubert came though on O'Riordan a tad early, David McAllister landed the opening penalty.
It would be the last kick of the game before another score arrived, when McAllister landed his second penalty.
Leinster deserved their little lead, but it was 40 minutes' hard toiling for six points. First and foremost they had to tackle big. Rhys Williams was the main dangerman, Cullen hauling him down as he attempted to cut through. Then Aidan McCullen, who had a typically fine all-round game, stopped Williams's dart for the line with a thumping hit.
But with Leinster flatly aligned, and Cardiff pushing up fast, McAllister had little time to play with, though you sense he needs to invest his game with a bit more zip anyhow.
He kicked well out of hand, as did James Norton at the back.
McAllister wasn't helped by the occasional iffy pass from Brian O'Riordan, but then he still has more threat from the base than any other Irish scrumhalf around. He and Leinster were mostly kept in check as well.
The one exception saw Gavin Hickie make inroads off a quick tap for Shane Jennings, with a typical touch of class, chipping through for Gary Brown to outrun Nick Walne despite having his jersey tugged. The winger adroitly hacked the ball on and though Williams covered well, the ball broke for the ultra-quick Jennings to claim the touchdown. However, David Changleng's marginal call was that the ball had gone forward from Brown.
Three more points also went a-begging for a reversed penalty against Peter Coyle for punching.
Needing to be more precise after the interval, Leinster were then made pay for some mistakes, McAllister's failure to pick up a poor pass by O'Riordan and Peter Coyle's fumble off a McCullen offload leading to two Nick Macleod penalties that wiped out their slim lead. The first had seen the impressive USA Eagles captain break David Quinlan's tackle, having done so to Shane Jennings in the first half, which is all you need to say about his dynamic running.
Kidney brought on Brian O'Meara at outhalf and after the ever-alert McCullen had won another turnover, Leinster managed to move the ball along the line to John McWeeney and O'Meara restored the lead with a 40-metre penalty when Cardiff failed to roll away in the tackle.
Cardiff promptly made a statement of intent by bringing on Gethin Jenkins, who cranked up the pressure on Peter Coyle to earn another equalising penalty by Macleod from under the posts.
With the Leinster line-out also under severe pressure, most of the final quarter was spent in Leinster territory, but with the help of resourceful substitutions, they hung on gamely, limiting Macleod to just one more attempted penalty, which he missed from an acute angle. In the circumstances, the draw was a result.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 2 mins: D McAllister 3-0; 40: McAllister pen 6-0; (half-time 6-0); 44: N Macleod pen 6-3; 53: Macleod pen 6-6; 55: B O'Meara pen 9-6; 62: Macleod pen 9-9.
LEINSTER: J Norton; J McWeeney, C Warner, D Quinlan, G Brown; D McAllister, B O'Riordan; E Byrne, G Hickie, P Coyle, L Cullen (capt), B Gissing, A McCullen, D Dillon, S Jennings. Replacements: B O'Meara for McAllister (54 mins), D Blaney for Hickie, C Potts for McCullen, V Costello for Gissing (all 55 mins).
CARDIFF BLUES: R Williams; N Walne, J Robinson, T Davies, C Morgan; N Macleod, R Smith; J Yapp, G Williams, B Evans, D Jones, R Sidoli, N Thomas, K Schubert, M Williams (capt). Replacements: G Jenkins for Yapp (30-39 and 56 mins), T Shanklin for Davies (60 mins).
Referee: David Changleng (SRU)
