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Cheika - Hard work won it

Image: Cheika: we backed ourselves

Leinster coach Michael Cheika pointed to hard work as the key to his side's 36-13 win at Brive.

Goode admits French side were outplayed

Leinster coach Michael Cheika pointed to hard work as the key to his side's 36-13 win at Brive. It was an important victory for Cheika's men, whose opening day defeat against London Irish in Dublin had put them under serious pressure. Cheika said: "I think hard work got us the game. There wasn't anything flashy or fancy, just a lot of good work. "We backed ourselves a lot to throw the ball around when there were opportunities there. "We didn't go into our shell, which we could have done because we knew what the implications were if we didn't win. That's good character." Scarlets' win at London Irish has thrown Pool Six wide open but Cheika knows his team will have to produce another top performance to get a result at Parc y Scarlets when the sides meet there on December 12. "The Scarlets will have their tails right up now," he said. "We haven't had the nicest draw so the way it's worked out we're going to go down there and try to get in their way because they're the team that's on a roll at the moment." Man of the match Brian O'Driscoll added: "Obviously we're pleased we won the game. At the same time we could have picked up a bonus point but we're delighted to come to Brive and get four points.

Pressure

"It's a hugely difficult competition to win. Having lost in the first round we put pressure on ourselves, but we're delighted to come out of here with a win." The match was Brive's first home game in the competition for 12 years and their English fly-half Andy Goode admitted it was a disappointing performance. Goode, who kicked eight points, said: "If we're being honest, from one to 15 they outplayed us. It was a difficult match for us and we made a fair few mistakes. "The first try was a simple defensive error. After that we needed to control the ball a bit and we gave them a few penalties, which they kicked. "It gave them a lot of confidence and momentum in the game and after that giving them a few soft tries killed us off really."