James Ryan hailed the impact of new senior coach Jacques Nienaber after Leinster shut out European champions La Rochelle in a famous Investec Champions Cup away win.
The 16-9 victory was Leinster's first success in four matches against the back-to-back winners, who had defeated Leo Cullen’s side in the last two finals.
Jordan Larmour scored the only try of the game, with a Harry Byrne conversion and three penalties from Ciarán Frawley enough to see off the Top14 side, who were restricted to three Antoine Hastoy kicks.
The visitors to a wet and windy Stade Marcel-Deflandre made 109 tackles and won six turnovers.
The Springboks double World Cup-winning coach, a defence specialist, arrived at the province two weeks ago.
"We had to play a different type of rugby, it wasn’t the night to play 'Leinster rugby' in," co-captain Ryan told Leinster Rugby TV.
"We had to play in the right areas and be strong at set-piece. Thankfully we did enough in the end.
"When you are playing away in the Champions Cup, away in France, I think it’s your defence that wins you the game.
"Jacques made a big impact since he’s come in. It was great, the lads really enjoyed defending out there for each other, hugely satisfying."
The four-time European champions next face Premiership table-toppers Sale, who beat Stade Francais 28-5 yesterday, at the RDS on Saturday afternoon (5.30pm).
The 27-year-old said: "Sale are a seriously good team so [with] a six-day turnaround the emphasis is getting home and recovering quickly.
"We’ve got make sure we are physically and mentally ready to go again in six days."
Follow a live blog for Exeter v Munster in the Champions Cup on Saturday from 1pm on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to commentary on Saturday on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra (first half) and RTÉ Radio 1 (second half)
Watch Leinster v Sale Sharks in the Champions Cup on Saturday from 4.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on www.rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app
