Leo Cullen was keen to stress the positives, after Leinster made it two wins from two in the Investec Champions Cup with a sloppy 37-27 win against Sale Sharks at the RDS.
Two Sale tries in the final three minutes made the scoreboard somewhat deceiving, with the four-time champions having built up a 24-point cushion before that late flurry.
Leinster had looked out of sorts at times in the opening half, trailing 13-3 at one stage, but after a Josh van der Flier try just before half time, the hosts took the lead shortly after the break through Jamison Gibson-Park, and from there they never really looked back.
And although the win wasn't as comfortable as was predicted earlier in the week, the Leinster coach was happy to sign off the night with a bonus-point win.
"It's a win, and it's a bonus-point win, and there’s plenty to work on, but it’s still early days," Cullen told RTÉ Sport.
"It was tough going in the first half, wasn't it? The guys responded much better at the start of the second half and exerted a good bit more dominance in terms of how we carried and dealt with some of the contact area.
"Parts of the first half were frustrating but a lot of credit has to go to Sale because they were frustrating us. They got in amongst us at different stages. They played well, they came with a plan.
"We know they have a strong kicking game, that leads to the first try they score, and they made life difficult for us. I thought the guys showed good composure, and we were much better at the start of the second half."
The Leinster coach was particularly pleased with his side's start to the second half; Ryan Baird got up quickly to flick Ciarán Frawley's restart back on his side, before they ran through an unbroken 22 phases across the next three minutes, which ended with Van der Flier's break to put Gibson-Park over in the corner.
"It was good patience in that sequence of attack, and Sale repelled us pretty well. I don't know how many phases, but the ball was in play for a long period of time.
"We spoke before the game, it’s some tough northern guys in there, and a mix of South African guys they have in their group and it worked well for them. They bring a real physical edge to the way they play, and it was hard work. That’s what you expect at this stage of the competition.
"We’re delighted to get a win, and there’s plenty of growth still in this team. That’s the bit for us, to keep getting better. With Jacques [Nienaber] coming in, a new coach, we have to make sure we're on the same page now. It was never going to be easy, the transition, but it’s important for us to keep working away," he Cullen added.
The province now have 10 days until their next game, when they head down to Limerick for an eagerly-anticipated derby with Munster.
And Cullen says he plans to give his players a few days off to rest, before they get back down to work at UCD on Wednesday.
"It's a different challenge now, going down to Thomond on the 26th, we’ll turn our attention to that now. This was a six-day turnaround, coming back from France and you’re just trying to get back into that preparation mode. This time we’ll have decent preparation for our Tuesday game on the 26th.
"Guys will get a few days off now, so particularly off the back of the short turnaround it’s been a pretty intense few weeks, away to Connacht, away in France and a short turnaround to this.
"We’ll have a couple of days off, get some freshness into the group and in the middle of the week we’ll get back at it."
Follow a live blog on Exeter v Munster in the Champions Cup on Sunday from 1pm on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra (first half) and RTÉ Radio 1 (second half).
