Leinster have escaped the Stade Marcel Deflandre with their perfect record intact after they just held on for a two-point 16-14 victory over fierce rivals La Rochelle.
Despite being the better side for much of, if not all of the opening half, La Rochelle went down the tunnel four points to the worse after an insurmountable Leinster defence held them to two penalties, before Joe McCarthy's try against the run of play added to Sam Prendergast's earlier penalty.
Leinster came firing back out for the second, taking better advantage of both side's ill-discipline to advance their lead to 16-6. However, it was shortlived with Dillyn Leyd's claiming La Rochelle's first try and all the momentum shortly after.
While O'Gara's men held that momentum until the death, a foray of missed penalties from both sides left just two points in the difference as the clock neared red.
Out on their feet, Leinster looked destined to fall to a stoppage-time winner from La Rochelle's men, but as it had been all day, Leinster's defence came up trumps charging down Antoine Hastoy's drop goal effort, before pressuring an 81st minute forward pass that brought proceedings to an end in their favour.
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Rob Kearney disappointed with Ross Byrne miss
The last-gasp defensive effort from Leinster was made no easier by two misses from the tee in the closing stages of play.
While Jordie Barrett hooked Leinster's final chance wide, it was Ross Byrne's uncharacteristic miss just minutes earlier which really turned heads. Having entered the fray to see out the game, Byrne hooked a 68th-minute opportunity to widen the gap left and wide.
Speaking on Premier Sports about the difficulty of coming off the bench and scoring, Rob Kearney had little empathy for the 29-year-old.
It is difficult, but it's your job at the same time too. If you start on the bench, particularly if you know you're the outhalf and you're covering ten, chances are you're gonna come on with ten, fifteen minutes to go and have an important kick.
It probably wasn't as easy as Hastoy's effort, Jordie Barrett had a longrange effort too, so there was a lot of opportunities for individuals to step up and be the hero and none of them took it.
As the competition for game-time in Leinster's out-half shirt continues to build, there's little doubt that Ross Byrne would've liked, maybe needed a better start to today's game.
It wasn't only the 12 County Army struggling off the tee, though. Like Leinster, La Rochelle missed their fair share of chances in front of the posts, with Hastoy's 79th-minute miss the most heart-breaking for a crestfallen La Rochelle.
Regardless of how they did it, the result means Leinster remain unbeaten in all competitions this season and sees them launch to the top of pool 2 ahead of Bath's now less-important trip to the Aviva Stadium next week.
