A week is a long time in politics. It is also a long time in sport.

Two weeks ago, we came away from 'Fortress Kingsholm', our faces bathed in smiles, following one of Munster's best performances.

Last Saturday night, however, our emotions came full circle after we were comprehensively beaten by Leinster at the RDS, by 21-12.

To add insult to injury, the Munster half-backs Ronan O'Gara and Peter Stringer were both injured, but hopefully will have recovered in time for the Heineken Cup semi-final clash with Saracens on Sunday week.

Declan Kidney had to put a brave face on it as he spoke to us at the post-match press conference, but you could tell he was worried about his injured players.

It was also a very frustrating evening for the Munster fans, who had to endure the elements of thunder and rain in the three open stands at the RDS.

The main stand at the ground is the only covered one and the Leinster season ticket supporters were tucked in there well before kick-off.

Leinster were hungrier for victory on the night and Munster, not surprisingly, found it hard to recapture the intensity of their Heineken Cup performance of the week before.

They also missed David Wallace and the home side won the key battle at the contact area. Leinster are now odds-on to win the Magners League and they deserve the trophy, but as we sat in the press box at the final whistle I felt a few Leinster supporters went a bit over the top and a little bit of triumphalism was in evidence.

They have obviously been frustrated over the past number of years with Munster hailed as the top team in Ireland. However, as the men in red came back onto the pitch after the half-time break, some Leinster fans booed them.

The players, many of whom have been in the Irish squad together, respect each other but at the end of the match you saw just how fired up Leinster were for the game as the team returned to the pitch to acknowledge their fans.