That scenario had actually begun to look likely in the final quarter when Glasgow, bolstered by the arrival of Colin Gregor in place of Ruaridh Jackson at stand-off, cut out the errors that had disfigured their game up to that point began to play with renewed urgency and devil. Gregor collected a clever try in the 68th minute, finishing off a move he had started himself, but some last-ditch defence by the home side kept the Scots at arm’s length from that point on.
“The effort was outstanding tonight,” said the frustrated Munro. “We should have won. It’s been a difficult few weeks for us, but the team has improved with every game. They’ve been training hard and they’ve looked like a new team this week.
“Budgie [Gregor] was outstanding. He really made a difference for us when he came on. Ruaridh is getting a lot of game time, but he’s just not been finding his form.”
Dan Parks will presumably slot back into the playmaker role when he comes back from Scotland duty, but the evidence of this match is that Gregor provides the better back-up at the moment. In admittedly difficult conditions, Jackson struggled to cope with the powerful wind, but Gregor seemed to get the measure of it as soon as he arrived.
If Gregor was one unlikely success story, so too was Hefin O’Hare, the little winger who rarely starts a game for Glasgow. His 16th minute try was a brilliant individual effort, a weaving, sidestepping run from his own half in which he beat one player after another before touching down between the posts.
As bright as those moments were, though, Glasgow were the architects of their own downfall in other areas, not least their grim tendency to cough up hard-won possession far too easily.
With their first-choice back- row absent on international duty, they had decent enough back-up in the shape of James Eddie, Calum Forrester and Richie Vernon, but their vigour in the loose was not matched by accuracy in contact and they were too easily stripped of the ball at close quarters.
The result kept Glasgow in the top four of the Magners League, but their position is precarious in such a tight competition. Leinster, though, are sitting pretty at the top. It is a tribute to their game management skills as much as their strength in depth that they have now survived four RBS 6 Nations windows in succession without defeat.
They made sure of victory in this match with a couple of early penalties by centre Fergus McFadden, and it was the same player who opened their try account in the 23rd minute when he darted over from close range following a break by the magnificent Isa Nacewa, who posed a threat to the Glasgow defence throughout the match.
Girvan Dempsey, the full-back, claimed Leinster’s second score just before half-time, diving over on the right side after a period of pressure in which Glasgow had simply run out of defenders.
