A WEEK AGO The IRISH XV gained a rather fortuitous victory over Munster with a late try, and yesterday evening at Donnybrook a try in the last minute yet again gave the Irish rugby side a win, this time by five points over Leinster.

But if the end product was the same, the pattern of this match was very different to the game in Thomond Park. Then Munster led all the way and got caught at the post, on this occasion it was the Irish side that set the pace and dictated the pattern of the game for over 50 minutes. But a great Leinster fight-back and vastly improved second half performance saw Leinster erase the 38-21 deficit they carried with 24 minutes to go as they scored three tries in a fine spell between the 56th and 73rd minutes.

When Leinster drew level they looked the likely winners against a side for whom many players showed the effects of having taken part in very hard first division league matches in England the previous day. But the Irish side did have the resilience to come back, and right wing Richard Wallace scored the winning try.

It was an entertaining and free-flowing match and Ireland manager Pat Whelan expressed the view that the two games against the provincial teams were well worth while.

"They fulfilled the purpose for which they were arranged," Whelan said. "We learned a lot about players both in the positive and negative senses. From a selectorial viewpoint they were very informative. I certainly take the point that some players did show the strains of having played the previous day in England. Many of the players were playing their third game in eight days and indeed a few were playing their fourth. But that has been taken into account in our assessment of individual performances.

"I was also pleased that the side showed the mental toughness to come back and win after losing a 7-point lead," he said. All are valid points.

But there was more than the consolation of a near miss in the game for Leinster too. They had played badly in the initial period against an opposing force that won more possession and exercised much more control and whose forwards were well on top. Brian O'Meara and Paul Burke formed a good half-back pairing for the Ireland XV and there were commendable creative instincts in the Irish play. A half time lead of 26-16 did not flatter the Irish side.

When Burke and Dominic Crotty, surely a player with a fine future, combined to enable Crotty to go in for a try just after the interval, it stretched the halftime advantage to 31-16, and even after Kevin Spicer, who had an outstanding game for Leinster at number eight, got a try for Leinster four minutes later, the Irish team responded with a try within six minutes. David Corkery, whose strength had been evident in the initial period, got over for his second try of the game.

Eric Elwood, who had replaced Burke, converted and the Irish team led 38-21 and did not seem in any danger. But they did not score again until the crucial winning try in the 80th minute.

Leinster, playing with more assurance and not turning over possession as they has done earlier, produced a fine closing 25 minutes.

"I cannot say I was happy with our first-half performance," said Leinster manager Jim Glennon. "But I was very pleased with the improved level of the performance in the second half and the way we came back to wipe out a 17-point deficit.

Leinster coach Ciaran Callan made the point that he was pleased with the team's fitness level. "But we have been working on ball retention and that was poor initially. It is crucial. In that and so much else we improved considerably in the second half and made a match of it."

They had, too, reason to be especially pleased with Spicer's performance. He was the best forward on the field, and Dean Oswald also got through an immense amount of work and won some invaluable ball on the ground.

Leinster's 20-year-old out-half Richard Governey played with perception and assurance. "He did very well," said Glennon.

A notable aspect of four of the five tries Leinster scored were that they came from quickly-taken free kicks and penalties near the Irish line. Alain Rolland scored a real beauty just before the interval and Governey converted to reduce a 21-9 deficit to 16-26 at the break.

The toils they had undergone on Saturday began to show in the play of several of the Irish pack as the game entered its final phase and Leinster scored three tries between the 55th and 33rd minutes, through Vincent Cunningham, Greg Duffy and Rolland who, like Corkery and Richard Wallace, marked the occasion with two tries.

Governey converted one off those three tries, but had his attempted conversion of the last gone over it would have given Leinster the lead for the first time.

But it was Richard Wallace who had the final word with the match-winning score as he forced his way over in the right corner. Elwood was wide with the conversion. "Leinster played very well in the second half and deserve a lot of credit for the way they came back," said Whelan.

It will be back to training ground for the Ireland squad today. They have some indoor work this morning and will be out on the back pitch at Lansdowne Road in the afternoon.