A STICKY one alright. As well as the confines of Partick Thistle’s narrow, short pitch, the Firhill surface was gluey and cloying, and Glasgow’s willingness in front of a record Euro crowd at Firhill of 6,479, to atone for their RDS thrashing was palpable, but sometimes even European champions have to get down and dirty. That’s why they’re European champions.

Leinster won’t have been swinging from the chandeliers, but the gutsiness of yesterday’s 23-16 win will have pleased them, not least as it means they followed Munster as the second team to ensure qualification for the last eight of the Heineken Cup.

Victory at home to Montpellier next Saturday will ensure a lucrative and advantageous home quarter-final for the third year running, most probably ensuring the IRFU a further ERC dividend by renting out the Aviva. Were it to come with a bonus point, it would guarantee a top seeding against the second-best runners-up, possibly Harlequins, in a last eight re-run of Bloodgate. Or, quite conceivably, Ulster.

Given their four previous defeats in seven Euro visits to Scotland, and their league travail on this ground, all in all Joe Schmidt was entitled to be satisfied with what his squad had achieved and took the opportunity to show that he’s not a completely unforgiving taskmaster after all.

“Delighted to get the result today. Absolutely delighted. I know there were imperfections and I know that my players have gone on record in saying that I am always fussy, but I said to them that I don’t really care about the imperfections today. I think that you deserve to be proud of what you did, because you deserve to get the four points and we’ll come away from this and glue ourselves back together in six days time and front up at the RDS in front of a full stadium and try to chase that home quarter-final that we really, really want,” said Schmidt.

As he knows from losing at the RDS with Clermont two years ago, and beating Leicester last season at the Aviva, a home quarter-final is almost imperative. “It is pivotal so often. There is a danger of people thinking a home quarter (is) a fait accompli, but it is far from that. You still have to front up. We had Leicester last year. Gee, I wish we could do what Ulster did to them. We had to scramble through against them, 17-10,” explained Schmidt.

Yesterday was every bit as tough as Schmidt expected, and the Leinster coach praised the positive intentions and endeavour of both sides. “We knew that today was about rolling our sleeves up in getting an away win. We did want to up the tempo if it was at all possible but (they were) very sticky ground conditions. The boys had 18mls (studs) on and were swimming in it really. So we knew the game would be a battle of attrition and that’s pretty much how it proved,” added Schmidt.

Schmidt was hopeful that Luke Fitzgerald and Richardt Strauss would return next week, and did not seem unduly perturbed by the sight of Jonathan Sexton hobbling for most of the match after rolling over on his left ankle, thus handing the kicking duties to Fergus McFadden, who landed four from four to augment tries by Rob Kearney and Isaac Boss, as well as a penalty by Sexton.

“I think a little later on he stepped on Jamie Heaslip’s boot and rolled it again. Then he was hobbling and he’s grumpy. The other boys have to play a little bit harder when Johnny gets grumpy so it’s not a bad thing.”

As holders, Leinster are the hunted ones this season but Schmidt said that, having enjoyed their summer, Leinster agreed before the opener in Montpellier they were just one of 24 contenders. “After next weekend there will be eight contenders. We’re delighted to be one of those eight,” he said.

Saracens need just another point to join Leinster and Munster in the last eight, but with Edinburgh and Cardiff both winning over the weekend, and Harlequins beating Gloucester on Saturday, results didn’t fall too kindly for Ulster. Unless Connacht upset Harlequins next Friday in Galway, or either Edinburgh or Cardiff slip up at home next Sunday, Ulster may have to end Clermont’s 36-match unbeaten run at home to progress to the quarter-finals.

Ulster could win their group if they obtain a bonus point defeat against Clermont, but only if they score more tries than Clermont or score the same number of tries and lose by less than five. If Harlequins are denied a bonus point win at the Sportsground, Ulster could also progress as the second best runners-up if they extract a bonus point from the Auvergne.

No one knows better than Schmidt how tough his former employers can be on their own turf, but as he said yesterday: “I thought Ulster were massively impressive on Friday night. As much as I try to not watch too much rugby – well my wife tries to stop me watching too much rugby at home on Heineken Cup weekends – I just think that’s going to be a sizzling match and I’m really looking forward to looking at that game.”