IT WILL COME as a great relief to all at Leinster that a line can now be drawn under their oft-calamitous and troubled South African expedition as the last of the travelling party arrived home in dribs and drabs.

The tour lurched from one disaster to another in the shape of visas imbroglios and mid-flight misunderstandings before the eastern province were sent home jaded by the rampant Cheetahs.

Leo Cullen has promised ‘an extensive review’ of the two-week trip and there’s no doubt the Leinster hierarchy will closely look at what they could have done better both on and off the pitch.

Mistakes were made and lessons will be learned, but none of the excuses — the travel, logistics, short preparation time, off-field distractions and altitude — will wash when, upon reflection, the management and players dissect a sub-standard performance in Bloemfontein.

“I don’t think anyone is using any excuses for losing the game against the Cheetahs,” Stuart Lancaster insists.

“We got beaten fair and square but there’s no doubt that being the first team to go there on a two-week tour and having the late notice, without doubt put the whole preparation under pressure.

“Even just the logistics of trying to get all the players out to South Africa and then move them around South Africa with the number of flights that were available. I’ve been there with England obviously and you know months in advance, you get the business class flights booked up and you get the boys in the right seats to the right places.

Gerhard Steenkamp / INPHO Gerhard Steenkamp / INPHO / INPHO

“It was late notice for Leinster and there was no doubt about it and it definitely put pressure on the planning of the trip but it doesn’t excuse losing to the Cheetahs.”

And, of course, Leinster didn’t help themselves, shooting themselves in the foot twice and then failing to clean up the mess having left their media manager at home as a cost-cutting measure.

The visa situation was a naive oversight but the situation involving Cian Healy, a laptop and a SA Express flight was highly embarrassing and an altogether avoidable distraction.

Lancaster, who returned home last Wednesday to oversee preparation for this week’s clash with Edinburgh, says there was no internal disciplinary process and more was made of it from the outside.

“The reality was he was watching the game on his computer in the lead-up to the plane taking off and was unaware, because he had the headphones on, that the captain was stressing to shut the laptop,” Lancaster explained.

“There were two or three players and Cian just happened to be the one the stewardess picked out. It was avoidable but I certainly don’t think it was him being disrespectful or ignoring rules. He was just unaware of the stringent way they’re [rules] applied in South Africa.

“It is what it is and as soon as the captain made that decision, there was only one outcome. The reality is he got on the next flight and he was with us soon enough. To the outside it looks like a big thing but internally we’re disappointed to have put ourselves in that position but it didn’t have an impact on our preparation.”

Whether there’s more to the story or not, the case is closed and Leinster have moved on.

Attention has now turned to Friday’s visit of Edinburgh and the chance to bounce back from a first defeat of the season ahead of a crucial block of fixtures, which includes interpro games against Munster and Ulster and Champions Cup ties with Montpellier and Glasgow.

The expected return of the five Lions is a major fillip for Cullen and Lancaster as they look to hit the reset button and start the next series of games with a big performance under the lights at the RDS.

Gary Carr / INPHO Gary Carr / INPHO / INPHO

Although Friday’s reversal to the Cheetahs was the only blot on the copybook in the first month of the campaign, Lancaster admits it’s been a difficult start for the province who have been without several key players and have struggled to find any real consistency in team selection and performance.

“It has been a difficult start for Leinster,” the former England head coach continued.

“There were two teams who contributed most to the Lions tour; one was Saracens and the second was Leinster. Obviously the Saracens players you’ve seen them come back and they’ve played and got in the flow. Rightly so the Irish players have been held back until this weekend so it’s been hard for us to get in our flow.

“We’ve had a bit of a changing team. If I think back to this time last year, certainly the top end players had all played one or two games by now but because of the tour five players have been held back and then you add in Dev Toner and Scott Fardy missing from South Africa, Dan Leavy’s injury and little things along the way means we haven’t been able to get a consistent team out. Obviously to be at top form you need your best players to be playing consistently.

“I think the key period for us now is this next block. We’re pleased to have got three out of four, we would have liked four out of four, but we have Edinburgh, Munster and Montpellier at home and then Glasgow away.

“It’s a big six weeks for us and with it all the top guns available, albeit one or two injured, we can get going. It hasn’t been an easy start, we know we’ve a long way to go but pleased with where we’re at so far.”

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