We had our first interprovincial game against Connacht, and we come away with a comprehensive 33–8 victory.
We also had the honour of playing the match at Donnybrook Stadium.
The last time I played an international there it was more like a beach, there was so much sand on the pitch. But now it is a fantastic pitch, with a great stand.
From the match we noticed there are some areas of our game that we must improve on if we have any aspirations of winning this competition.
Some teams might just be happy with the win, but we were also looking for a great performance.
We have some work to do before we face Munster in two weeks time.
Speaking of Munster, they opened their own campaign with a 46-0 win over Ulster.
On a personal note, I was happy to be even involved in the game.
On the Thursday evening before I had a lot of flu-like symptoms, and they worsened on Friday while I was at work. I spent Saturday on the couch, getting a lot of fluids in and dosing myself with cough medicine.
I struggled through the warm-up on Sunday with the rest of the Leinster squad, and really didn’t think I would last the pace.
Once the game started, however, I felt fine and lasted the whole match, save for my 10 minutes in the sin bin. Yes, I received a yellow card – my first ever card at any level. I was disgusted to say the least. The referee deemed that I high-tackled a player, but I don’t believe I did.
Elsewhere, our club season at UL Bohs is going to plan with another win – three out of three so far – and we are sitting at the top of the table.
Again, it was not a classic Bohs performance, with a large number of unforced errors.
I think we went down to the level of the team we were playing against, and even though we were trying hard, we seemed to be forcing the game.
Nevertheless, it gave us an opportunity to give some of our fringe players a chance to get a run and put their hand up for selection.
Away from my own performances, it was great to see the Leinster men’s team get their Heineken Cup campaign back on track with a good win away over Brive.
Unfortunately they didn’t earn the bonus point, but they seem to be gelling more with each game.
A number of Leinster players certainly must be in Declan Kidney’s mind for the Autumn internationals, with Johnny Sexton really coming of age, and of course the remarkable Cian Healy.
For a player so young to be making such inroads in the front row is fantastic, and he looks set to get his first senior cap this year.
Fiona Coghlan is an Irish International rugby player. Her column appears every fortnight in Metro Éireann
