RUGBY HEINEKEN CUP: JOHNNY WATTERSONon how, while the province may be getting the victories and accumulating the bonus points, there's still room for improvement

IT’S DIFFICULT these days to divine exactly what place Leinster have found themselves in. There is the hint that team minds might still be trying to unravel the matches against Connacht and Ospreys, which were prized wins with some glaring imperfections.

On both occasions coach Joe Schmidt had to find a way of praising his team’s effort and at the same time picking holes.

It has been both frustrating and impressive.

Last weekend in the RDS, the contact area was one place that displeased not just Schmidt but Shane Jennings too. The backrow make up has changed regularly over the past month, with injury offering opportunities to Rhys Ruddock, Dominic Ryan and the rehabilitated Kevin McLaughlin.

With some doubt now hanging over Jamie Heaslip’s ankle, Seán O’Brien may be asked to fill a large hole. Or not. That has been Leinster’s lot.

There is uncertainty hanging over this weekend’s call but there is also a glass half-full or half-empty analogy to be drawn. Bonus points without hitting top gear and academy players demanding attention seems a healthy way to meet Saracens in round five of the Heineken Cup.

“Yeah . . . thankfully we’ve a lot of guys who came back from injury,” says Jennings, “I see Stan running there and Kev (McLoughlin) has come back in the backrow as well.

“Obviously you’ve Dominic (Ryan) and Rhys (Ruddock) and young lads like Eoin Sherriff, like Simon Keogh.

“We’ve got very good competition in our backrow. Whatever unit goes out in the backrow we are pretty confident we can do a job. There’s very capable players who are there who can step in.”

The mouth-watering possibility of a home quarter-final is a real ambition but not visible in the narrow focus of match week. With Brendan Venter’s complaints about killing ball still ringing around Wembley after the last successful London raid, there is added venom in the return leg.

Jennings also understands that Venter venting his spleen is no concern of his. But if Leinster were to lose the match, the pool would boil down to going down the home stretch in Paris against Racing Metro.

“He (Venter) seemed pretty frustrated and annoyed after the game. I don’t know what he’s talking about, killing the game, killing off the ball,” says Jennings blissfully unconcerned.

“If you do that you are going to get penalised and we found out that you just have to interpret how the ref is playing it on the day. We did well.

“They’ve a good backrow that can slow up ball as well. I think we were happy with how we competed against them and it’s going to be no different this week because whatever they put out they are going to be strong and good.

“We saw it when they went over to Paris, the job they did on a miserable night over there. So they won’t have any problems going anywhere. They go up and down England every week and they put in good performances.

“We’re in for a massive, massive test and if we can get through this challenge and come out the right side of it we are in good nick to go somewhere else. But we haven’t really looked after Saturday, to be honest.”

Jennings is cautious but hopeful, confident but wary and is questioning although he is very much a believer in Leinster’s potential. After the Wembley win a home game may encourage players to feel they can afford to swagger into the RDS but too many big games and tumbles has created a certain degree of self-awareness and the ability to be critical without knocking, to see flaws as moving towards improvement.

“Against Connacht we were quite good at times in the second half. Generally speaking, we weren’t that good against the Ospreys. We weren’t good at all, to be honest. If we play like that against Saracens, we’ll come out the wrong side of it. That’s not going to be good for anyone around here,” says Jennings.

“It’s good from our point of view that we haven’t played that well but we still come away with a bonus point win and a win to put ourselves in a good position in the league. Everyone says you learn a lot from losing. You also learn a lot when you win. It’s a nicer place to be when you win those games.

“Were happy but we need to improve on things. People do naturally lift their intensity, lift their sharpness in training and concentration when it comes into a H Cup week.”

And so we go. Leinster looking for the complete performance and chasing it, probably knowing exactly where they are.