RUGBY: A great ad for the Celtic League as a record 14,135 turned up for a regulation match, lured by what has been since the turn of the Millennium the ultimate Irish rivalry, and a great ad for Irish rugby - even if Munster mightn't be inclined to agree, writes Gerry ThornleyRugby correspondent

We should perhaps be wary of rushing into too many sweeping judgments. The prophets of gloom would have written off Leinster's pack after Munster's five-tries-to-nil, 33-9 thrashing of them in October in Cork, but where stand they now?

Likewise, Leinster made Munster look comparatively limited in ability and ambition for much of Saturday's thrilling 35-23 victory at a capacity RDS.

On the premise that Munster's backline again looked incapable of opening a tin of tuna, and that they are therefore too one-dimensional, the temptation now would be to join the rush to dismiss their European Cup credentials.

More worryingly for them perhaps, their pack couldn't press home early opportunities, but history has taught us Munster generally bounce back, and that we dismiss them at our peril.

After that October night, Leinster sat down and took a hard look at themselves. It was a turning point of sorts, and Saturday confirmed as much, though no less than Declan Kidney then, Michael Cheika wasn't getting carried away now.

"There's no getting away from it - they smashed us up at Musgrave, and we know it," said the Leinster coach on Saturday. "We talked about it, not revenge, but getting back what we gave away there. But the world's not changing because we won here today. We've got to keep producing that week in, week out against all teams if we want to go where we want to go.

"It was good to have that win but, mate, they could have won it and we couldn't have won down in Musgrave. So we need to keep things in perspective."

Cheika described himself as having watched the match "in a weird zone". Running up and down the line, and with his radio connection to David Knox in the stands temporarily broken down, he and Leinster's think tank appeared in as much a state of emotional flux as the crowd.

The hometown crowd were an effective 16th man, helping Leinster through their tough phases until the Felipe Contepomi-inspired, nerve-jangling and cacophonous endgame. Binned along with Reggie Corrigan, the Puma genius ultimately converted his two late tries for a 25-point haul.

Physically everyone emerged unscathed, although Ronan O'Gara would have partied into the New Year with quite a shiner below his left eye. And Brian O'Driscoll could be seen holding his right shoulder on his first start since that fateful day in Christchurch in June, and again when he left the field after 71 minutes.

"No, he's fine. It's always going to get sore when it hasn't been used in contact for a while. He's fine," said Cheika, adding with a laugh: "I think he robbed a few of the other boys of some oxygen out there, because he was sucking in plenty for himself. He was down on his hands and knees after about 30. But he was marvellous, to play for 65 minutes - which is probably more than I wanted - in a game of such intensity, and he hung in there."

Leinster have momentum now, and Cheika is not of a mind to start tampering too much with his team for next Saturday's trek to Llanelli prior to the fateful European Cup games against Glasgow and Bath.

"We want these games. This block of eight or nine games has always presented itself to me as a great opportunity to develop the team, because it's hard matches back to back. We don't want to just shoot out one big game, we want to learn how to back up, keep playing, hitting it hard."

As magnanimous as ever in defeat, Kidney did admit: "We know that in most aspects we didn't perform as well as we can. There's no doubt that the boys wanted it, but we probably just have to play with our heads up a small bit more. Our heart is huge - we just have to make sure it doesn't create such anxiety that it stymies our thought process out on the pitch."

The Munster back play has come in for some criticism lately, but Kidney maintained they are scoring tries and he is not bothered about who gets them.

"Every team plays to its strengths. Maybe some people want us to play a different way but I don't know a team in the world that doesn't play to its strengths."

The players will be given some time off this week, but like Cheika, Kidney is keen to maintain momentum in what, as with Leinster, is the make-or-break month of their season, next Saturday's summit meeting away to Edinburgh preceding high-voltage games away to Castres and at home to Sale on their European odyssey.

Admitting that "a defeat like that is hard to take", Anthony Foley said: "In the past it has steeled us together and hopefully that will happen again because the next three weeks will more or less dictate the rest of the season."