Leinster remain the great survivors but greatness departed with Johnny Sexton in the summer of 2013. That short-sighted error continues to haunt the Matt O'Connor era.
It's not that Jimmy Gopperth is a bad player – he's just a little shy of being labelled world class. The Kiwi was unlucky on Saturday night as he probed the line with relish. But could only laugh in disgust as a second line-kick went on the full, relinquishing massive territorial advantage to a Harlequins side so clearly rudderless in the absence of Chris Robshaw and Nick Evans.
Maybe it's time to see Ian Madigan at 10 again, when Gordon D'Arcy's calf heals up and he can partner Luke Fitzgerald in a midfield that we should have seen before now.
That's not the only problem. Leinster strengths actually feel like weaknesses of late. Dominic Ryan and Jack McGrath – punished in another valuable scrummaging experience – are both having excellent seasons but Sean O'Brien and Cian Healy they are not. Not yet anyway.
Engine room
Also, Kane Douglas is becoming a crucial physical presence in the engine room but Nathan Hines was visible for Sale Sharks on Saturday night and Brad Thorn for Leicester. Even in the twilight, both remain dominant figures.
On this goes, with the obvious exceptions being Jamie Heaslip and Rob Kearney, now senior players who, at 30 and 28, have never looked better, sharper or so important to the cause.
Kearney was brilliant in the air yet again, while Heaslip’s phenomenal 11 carries and 12 tackles was only bettered by Ryan. Such relentlessness demands any lingering critics to pay closer attention to the captain’s game.
Harlequins didn’t deserve to win here but they should have. Leinster were disjointed, again.
Only for the inaccuracy of Tim Swiel, the English-born, South African-raised outhalf, O’Connor would have guided the inaccurate, unrecognisable home team to a third straight round-four defeat in December.
And out of Europe's inaugural Champions Cup. All they are doing at the moment is surviving.
Television match official Eric Gonthier and the finicky refereeing Romain Poite essentially gifted Leinster the victory.
There were two occasions when the TMO trial rules were badly exposed, slowing and ruining what was already a sluggish spectacle for the 38,500 paying customers, many of whom left before the end despite the result hanging in the balance. People, especially the spoiled Irish rugby fan, have short memories.
There were three moments that killed Harlequins off.
Unmissable
On 33 minutes, Swiel bottled his second shot at goal. It was central and unmissable for any professional kicker worth his salt. A Madigan penalty – not his best day either but three from five proved enough – moments later gave Leinster a 11-0 half-time lead.
The try was finished off by Isaac Boss, the scrumhalf profiting from Heaslip’s pick and pass off a scrum Conor O’Shea felt his pack dominated.
“Perhaps we shouldn’t have scrummaged so well so close to our own line,” he noted.
“I’d disagree with Conor on that scrum,” said Heaslip. “Rossy [Mike Ross] won the hit...I knew I had a two-on-one situation.”
Moment two. On 42 minutes Harlequins were right to feel aggrieved when Poite and Gonthier took an age to disallow Mike Brown’s try. It was created by a thundering charge from Joe Marler, breaking free after gliding inside fellow loosehead McGrath, only to be hauled down by Kearney a few metres out. Kearney brilliantly ripped the ball from his grasp but Poite ruled it a knock-on, erasing Danny Care’s clever dink and Brown’s gather for what should have been the ultimate team try.
“They are massive decisions but they are opinions,” said O’Shea. “I saw a rip of a player on the ground so it’s a penalty to us. Play the advantage, try scored. But the TMO sees something different. You can’t change that.”
The tempo Care generates behind his pack ensured Brown did eventually cross for a well-worked five points that the recovering Swiel converted.
But the adjudicating worsened. On 77 minutes, Leinster had edged back in front 14-13 when Madigan became embroiled in a scrap with Care.
Not a wise move. When they crumbled under a heap of bodies, the English scrumhalf landed at least one decent punch. Amidst it all, Ryan attempted to pull George Robson from the fray. Didn't work out too well for him either as he was held by Charlie Matthews and decked by Robson. Two locks trumps a flanker every time.
Poite and Gonthier outdid themselves here. Taking eight minutes on this bitterly cold December night to finally decide that punching is acceptable but that Matthews needed to be sin-binned for letting his hand coming into contact with Ryan’s eye.
“I can’t believe it was a yellow card for that,” said O’Shea.
Harlequins could point to Devin Toner avoiding similar sanction for his 66th-minute smash on Jack Clifford before Robshaw’s under-study had received the ball.
Calming presence
All told, the loss of Matthews in those final exchanges, to compound the loss of the England captain and Evans, ruined any chance of a late steal.
Still, O’Shea’s men remain in control of Pool 2. Both are on 13 points but they have a greater try-scoring advantage, six and just two conceded, to Leinster’s four-six return, and a superior points differential, +28 to +5.
That should eventually matter. For now though, results continue to mask deepening Leinster problems but there will be a cost.
There always is.
