RUGBY: A RECORD final crowd, a record final margin, a record five tries in the final, back-to-back Heineken Cups and an unprecedented three in four years, and the first team to go through a campaign unbeaten. They're a helluva team alright. But Leinster are not only the most dominant force the Heineken Cup has known, they also entertain. They are the Barcelona of European 'club' rugby.

So many teams in finals shrink back into their shells, fearful of making mistakes. But this was an antidote to the craven lack of ambition shown in Friday’s Challenge Cup final aerial ping-pong – one can only imagine the critiques if two Irish sides had produced such dross – and which sums up so much of the money-drenched Top 14. Joe Schmidt and his team didn’t just do Leinster and Irish rugby a favour on Saturday, they did Europe one too.

Based upon a ferocious work ethic, on or off the ball, with or without it, theirs is a culture of running rugby, of exploring space where it is on the pitch and, best of all, it wins. And wins. And wins.

“Yeah, it is a hell of an achievement for this group of men,” said Schmidt. “I just think that they get on so well together, they are a very tight-knit unit. They are such a coachable group as well, they really do want to try to be the best they can be and work really hard to do that. The leadership out there is superb, Leo and across the board, there are a lot of guys who lead, right from the frontrow out to the back.

“I thought Rob Kearney . . . the first time the ball went up in the air he had to come at least 20 metres to get to the ball and he sailed above everyone else. It just gives massive confidence to the players around him and some of the younger guys got a taste of things that they will be hungry to get more of. I just hope we get a good pool,” he said in reference to next season. These were the words of a coach, however coveted, who at the very least intends on seeing out his three-year contract with Leinster.

There remains the deeply significant carrot of a Cup and League double to complete next Sunday at a celebratory RDS, though the Ospreys will also now be additionally motivated to poop the party. There’s also an Irish squad being announced today, of which the Leinster contingent will be the most numerous, and with that renewed pressure to translate their class into a green jersey. O’Drisocll pronounced himself fresh and fit to go, though Stephen Ferris hobbled away from Twickenham very heavily.

But longer-term, and with a final in Dublin to aim for next season, there’s no telling what this Leinster machine might yet achieve, all the more so with the visionary Schmidt at the helm. The last vestiges of a golden generation remain but have been supported by what might be termed a platinum generation, who have genuine aspirations to greatness as well.

The thought occurs that were it not for Jonny Sexton’s broken jaw which ruled him out of the semi-finals three seasons ago, Leinster might conceivably have won four-in-a-row. Then again, they rode their luck a little when beating Clermont by a point in the quarter-finals that year and, even with Sexton, Toulouse away would have taken some beating.

Besides, the pain of that defeat must assuredly have helped drive them on toward regaining their crown last season and even this season. It’s why the pain of last season’s League final defeat to Munster a week after beating Northampton 12 months ago makes a first double another important box to tick. It started with the breakthrough triumph in ’09. Ever since beating Leicester in that final, they have become voracious.

Central to it all, of course, is possibly the most remarkable sportsperson Ireland has ever produced; undoubtedly the best rugby player and certainly the most resilient and resolute. There he was, defying medical science again eight days after minor keyhole surgery on his knee, illuminating the day with his cut-back, dancing feet and sublime offload to the rampaging Sean O’Brien, who was all over this match like a rash. When Cian Healy duly ran in Leinster’s second try, you somehow knew already there would be only one winner. The maestro had stamped his class on the final.

Asked what it was that kept him going, whether it was medals or something more cerebral, Brian O’Driscoll answered simply: “It’s medals. Trophies. It is. It’s about being selfish and wanting more now. Even in the dressing-room there, and it wasn’t as tense going into the last 10 minutes for us, there was still great elation but different to the other two.

“People were saying it tongue in cheek, ‘can you do three-in-a-row’. The pleasure of being involved with this group of players is that I know how hungry they are and I know how they will push one another. I would imagine we would definitely try to defend the title as much as we did this year.”

That would save their supporters some money. Far from the riotous mix of colours from all corners of Europe, it was a mostly partisan, blue and white, Irish invasion of Twickenham. In their first final for 13 years, those in white stood up for the Ulster man and sang more lustily for long stretches, but if there was a confidence in Leinster ranks it was well founded, and well justified.

Leinster’s tentacles reach out far and wide. Not only were there four coach loads of about 200 supporters from Tullow alone in homage to the local Tank, and from other corners of the province, once again there were about 20 Germans – reports say from Dortmund and Hanover – who were in Cardiff last year and at Twickenham on Saturday. This begs the question as to why they would be supporting rugby in the first place, though once that choice was made, nominating Leinster is less of a riddle.

After such a wonderful campaign, Brian McLaughlin rides off into the sunset, or at any rate shifts over to the Ulster Academy, having carried himself with real class in the last few months. Describing Leinster as “a quality side who have proved themselves to be the number one side in Europe”, McLaughlin said “That is where we have to get to and that is the level that Ulster have to aspire to. Yes, we have moved a great distance. We are back at that top table and we have to stay there.”

The affection for McLaughlin was very real, never more so than in the aftermath of his final game. “Look at where he has taken us from where we started,” said Chris Henry. “It’s incredible. There is nobody in Ulster Rugby who wanted us to win more than him. For players that is infectious.

“He is the ultimate professional and I can’t thank him enough for what he has done. We have all learned so much from him and I think he has learned from us. It is going to be strange without him there next year but unfortunately that is the way rugby is at times.”

It wasn’t the ideal ending for McLaughlin, nor Stefan Terblanche, Pedrie Wannenburg and Ian Humphreys. But there was no shame, if a little embarrassment, in losing to this Leinster team, who, to a man, stressed that Ulster were more competitive than the scoreline indicates, and they were. But as McLaughlin conceded: “That’s Leinster for you.”