Declan Kidney, profound fellow that he is, is fond of telling anyone who cares to listen that it wasn't so long ago when Munster were drawing 250 people to an interpro. In fact it was for an interpro only three seasons ago, and the next season the Red Army descended upon Twickenham in tens of thousands. So Kidney's rejoinder is intended to put relative "failures" such as last Saturday's defeat into perspective.
Yet in showing what Munster have achieved it also highlights what Leinster can now achieve. For in the same way that Ulster's run to the European Cup final three seasons ago ensures that Ravenhill is now regularly bursting to the rafters, so Munster's Twickenham odyssey two seasons ago ensured the Red Army would follow Munster with utter devotion for years to come. And therefore it follows that last Saturday could be the catalyst for a new era in Leinster rugby, on and off the pitch.
There must have been causes for deep disappointment within Munster's ranks and, as Kidney conceded, there was a sense of letting down their legion of loyal supporters. "That's the thing that we will all regret, we have such a support base and if we win anything for anybody it will be for them. It started a few years ago when Connacht went well, then Ulster went well and now Leinster had a great support base there today. And the more we can do that the better."
Munster have set the standards not only on the pitch but off it as well, and similarly the Leinster support responded in numbers and in voice by the end. "I've got nothing but praise for the Munster crowd, they're wonderful people," said Matt Williams afterwards.
"In the last 20 minutes the chanting was unbelievable. I was trying to get messages onto the pitch but the boys couldn't hear them because the crowd was chanting: 'Leinster, Leinster.' And I actually said to the boys 'don't worry, I think the message is there'."
More than their main rivals it's never been a concept that sits too easily. Compared to Ulster's sense of identity or Munster's, with their tradition of beating touring sides, who from Louth to Wexford shares even the slightest hint of provincial fellowship? So it stands that it needed a day such as this to inspire some sense of what Leinster are about, and henceforth the probability is that Donnybrook won't be big enough to accommodate the interest. It should always have been thus really.
The pity is that Leinster have no more Heineken Cup pool games at home and conceivably, unless they earn a home quarter-final with a top four ranking, they won't have another match in Donnybrook. However, if they do earn a home quarter-final on Friday, January 25th, then it's hard to see how Donnybrook's 7,500 capacity will satisfy demand given the success and the style which is now synonymous with Matt Williams's young team.
Williams's assistant coach Alan Gaffney admits: "I was with Matty for three years in the Super 12 and I've got to say this is the best back line I've been involved with - across the board. I've worked with Whitaker, Spooner, Horan, Nathan Gray, Little and Burke, but this side is so consistently good and there's so much talent. They're so young, that's the beauty of it, and they really want to play."
That is sure to make them even more popular to watch and this will again highlight the need for, preferably, a redeveloped Donnybrook to accommodate bigger crowds, or a redeveloped Lansdowne to accommodate smaller but comfier crowds. Or, indeed, both.
Planning application will hopefully be submitted before the end of the year by the Leinster Branch for building a new, 3,500-seater stand and Bective clubhouse where the tennis courts currently sit, thereby increasing the capacity from 7,500 to 12,000.
Negotiations with Old Wesley and both the Bective rugby and tennis clubs are at a reasonably advanced stage but even if successful the whole process is still likely to take at least three years to complete.
Yet, in the short term, it would be virtually unthinkable for Leinster to switch a "home" quarter-final to Lansdowne Road, as that would therefore rule out Lansdowne Road as a potential "neutral" venue for a semi-final. Williams was overheard to have said anyway that he would insist on bringing a home quarter-final "to the lovely smell of Donnybrook". Besides, first and foremost everything must be done to give Leinster every chance of progressing further in the competition.
Leinster have even less reason to fear anybody in Europe now, and Saturday's win comes as a perfectly timed and deserving reward for the gradual revolution that is taking place in the province's playing culture. Williams admits he could scarcely believe what he had inherited when he first took over.
"We didn't have full-time staff, a home training base, a gym, a pool, medical staff, physio staff, video equipment, player recruitment, player development."
On his first day at the outset of last season Leinster had 11 fit players for training out of a squad of 30. "We had to change where we trained, how we trained and when we trained, how often we trained and the intensity we trained." At this season's first session everybody was fit and able to go, and Leinster have been persistently picking from virtually a full-strength squad.
Curiously, whereas that applied last season to Munster until the semi-final in Lille, this season it is they who have been bedevilled by injuries. The loss of Rob Henderson compounded the absence of other internationals but Kidney maintained: "We don't go in for that. Leinster beat us fair and square, so all credit to them. It was a final in mid-season and we're disappointed over losing. Everyone wanted to be the first winners of the Celtic League."
Munster will be back and Williams knows it. "I think when we play Munster again they'll have all their players and there'll be another battle. Munster have been out and away the best side in Ireland for the last few years and now there's two of us. That's great for Leinster and Munster, and that's also great for Ireland.
