Pictured above: Saturday's Heineken Cup Pool 2 match was barely three minutes old when Leinster scrum half Chris Whitaker crossed for the opening try.

Having missed the province's opening two pool games due to injury, Whitaker acquitted himself well on what was his Heineken Cup debut. Hailing the display of three-try captain Brian O'Driscoll, Whitaker said afterwards: "Brian was superb. He was quite ill all week, didn't train much with the team, and got a bit of a head-knock early on.

"So to come out and do what he did - score three tries and have a major impact on the game - was huge."



Agen's flying Fijian winger Rupeni Caucaunibuca cannot stop Brian O'Driscoll from getting in for Leinster's opening try at Lansdowne Road. The 27-year-old O'Driscoll was physically sick on the pitch during the first quarter - he had been battling the 'flu all week - but Leinster coach Michael Cheika would have had a battle on his hands if he wanted to replace his skipper.

The Australian said: "You can't get Brian off (in a substitution), he's impossible to get off! That's a great back line unit, they all back each other up. The other boys knew they had to help him out a bit, Denis Hickie and Shane Horgan did immense work. Gordon D'Arcy on the other side of him.

"Brian is such a great player and that performance just shows the courage of the bloke."



Caucaunibuca did get his own back on O'Driscoll when he slapped the ball from the Leinster number 13's grasp as he ran over the try line at the Havelock Square end. O'Driscoll did still score a hat-trick of tries, taking his Heineken Cup tally to 19 tries in 43 games.

As with the Ireland try-scoring record, a fierce battle could ensue to see who from O'Driscoll, Denis Hickie and Shane Horgan will emerge as Leinster's record Heineken Cup try scorer.

Horgan also boasts 19 tries from his 55 appearances in the competition, while winger Hickie, fresh from his 50th Heineken Cup outing, is currently on 18 tries. Not forgetting Gordon D'Arcy who has accumulated 18 tries in his 45 games to date.



Gordon D'Arcy puts in a big hit on Agen centre Sylvain Mirande at Lansdowne Road. D'Arcy took over the kicking duties from Girvan Dempsey in the second half, landing two penalties. His only other successful penalty kick in Heineken Cup history came against Bristol in October 2002.

Ironically, back then Leinster's Felipe Contepomi, who is now their regular goal kicker and currently out with a knee injury, was lining out for the Shoguns. The Leinster starting line-up in the 29-23 win over Bristol included five of the starters against Agen last Saturday - the odd man out being scrum half Brian O'Meara, who is now with Munster.



Leinster out-half Christian Warner is tackled by his opposite number Jerome Miquel. The Australian ended a near three-year wait for a Heineken Cup start when he took to the sward at Lansdowne Road last weekend.

His last European start was against Biarritz in January 2004, and he could return to France as a starter for next Saturday's Pool 2 rematch with Agen (Stade Armandie, kick-off 3.30pm Irish time).



Gordon D'Arcy tries to power through the Agen defence, with Rupeni Caucaunibuca for company. D'Arcy, who slotted over two penalties last weekend, could be called on to take Leinster's place kicks in their Round 4 clash with the French side.

On his goalkicking concerns, coach Michael Cheika said: "I wouldn't say I'm worried. You just have to get better and kick more. You can't worry. If we decide to include a first rate kicker like Andy (Dunne) there next weekend, we may do that.

"We just have to decide what the remedy is. It's not an optimum situation. Ideally, I'd love to have Contepomi in there kicking them from everywhere. I don't have him so we've got to work in another environment. Simple as that."



Leinster full-back Girvan Dempsey shows his quality under the high ball at headquarters. Dempsey, 31, had a disappointing night with the boot, missing two conversion attempts and a penalty chance, but his positional play in defence and counter-attacking more than made up for those misses.

Leinster could go a long way to securing their qualification for the Heineken Cup's last-eight by winning in Agen next Saturday. Cheika conceded: "We've got equal wins but we're still two points ahead of them (Agen). The more points you can eke out, the better. It's a challenge this tournament, it's a great tournament - you have to scrap for every try, every point.

"Leicester will have been disappointed they didn't get the bonus point on Friday night. We're delighted we got the bonus point here but you've also go to keep the opposition to zero and we did that."



Leinster's Wallaby scrum half Chris Whitaker gets clobbered by Rupeni Caucaunibuca as he tries to keep the ball in play. Showing no signs of the shoulder injury which kept him out of the October Heineken Cup games, the 32-year-old Whitaker was satisfied with his first European appearance.

He said: "I'm pleased to get the first game under my belt. Agen are a tough side and they will prove that again next weekend in their back yard. But it's great to play with the likes of (Brian) O'Driscoll and (Gordon) D'Arcy. They have a huge influence on the field."



Brian O'Driscoll spins over from close range for his second try against Agen. Altogether, he has now scored 38 tries in his 83 appearances for Leinster, and his current coach is a big admirer.

After watching his captain dot down three times, Cheika said: "I won't talk him up too much because everyone else does that, but Brian's a great competitor. That's probably what, of all the skills and bits and pieces, I like most about him."



The unusual sight of Denis Hickie in a scrum cap. The experienced winger, who passed a personal milestone on Saturday by making his 50th Heineken Cup appearance, was keen to play down Leinster's bonus point win.

The Dubliner said: "With these back-to-back fixtures, it's a two-part game really. We've a big challenge next weekend in that we've to go to France. If we didn't win here, next week would have been extremely hard. So it's literally job half done.

"I'm sure they will be relishing another shot at us. The pool is still very open which means that everyone is in the hunt, and probably will be until the last round of matches. Agen are a very strong side - they play very direct rugby. They never gave up and stuck at it in a way that French sides aren't always credited for."



Agen's Adri Badenhorst can only watch as Brian O'Driscoll dives in for his third and Leinster's fourth try in injury-time. O'Driscoll's good friend and team-mate Denis Hickie reckoned good preparation was key to Leinster's second win in Pool 2.

He added: "We did a lot of work on Agen before the game. The games they lose, they lose very narrowly. So we were very mindful of that fact, even after scoring the first two tries.

"We certainly didn't think that the floodgates were going to open up or anything like that because it's not the way they play, or the way their season has gone."

**All photos by Tom Honan and Dan Sheridan of Inpho Photography**