Leo Cullen admitted his side were given "a good reminder" about protecting possession after their chaotic Investec Champions Cup Round of 16 win against Edinburgh.
The province secured a quarter-final against Sale Sharks next Saturday after a 49-31 win, with three tries in the final 25 minutes eventually shaking off a bold effort from the Scottish side.
While Leinster scored seven tries on the night and displayed some of their best attacking rugby of the season, it was contrasted by a first half in which they conceded four of their worst tries of the campaign.
The province gave up three tries to their hosts off intercepts and dropped passes, while the only score Edinburgh attack manufactured saw Jamison Gibson-Park and Hugo Keenan make defensive blunders, which Cullen admitted was hard to grasp.
"It was a very unusual game, wasn't it?," the Leinster head coach told RTÉ Sport.
"There's lots of positive moments in that first half from an attacking point of view. We score four good tries, but to give up three intercept tries, it's highly unusual.
"It's pleasing the way we keep managed to keep playing, but listen, there is a big 'But' in there because you give away three intercepts, soft tries like that against quality opposition.
"You're going to be made pay, and being made pay as in you're going to be out of the tournament.
"So it's a good reminder for us in terms of respecting possession, etc, making good decisions on the ball.
"But listen, it's a knockout game, we're through to the next round, and it's a great challenge for us now."
The Leinster coach was quick to credit the visitors for their gung-ho approach on defence, which paid dividends in the opening half.
Sean Everitt's side had clearly done their research, given the nature of their first half scores, although it was a high-tariff approach which eventually proved too adventurous as Josh van der Flier, Thomas Clarkson and Rieko Ioane’s tries in the second half saw Leinster through.
"They gambled and they gambled successfully, that's the thing with a team with nothing to lose. Everyone was writing them off beforehand and they gambled well," Cullen added.
"So, what's the message there [for us]? Be more conservative in terms of our play? It's a fine line in terms of that message.
"There's definitely Edinburgh going for intercepts, because even when Rieko [Ioane] scores his try at the end the guy goes for an intercept.
"Thankfully, Rieko shows and goes and puts the old afterburners on in the corner."
As frustrated as Cullen was with the nature of the tries Leinster conceded, he was pleased with how his side turned what had been a chaotic first 60 minutes into a relatively dull final quarter, as they saw out their win without any late scares.
"You still need to go out with the same mentality about trying to attack, and you can't go into your shell, because we want to be able to play with a positive intent.
"It's making sure you don't clam up and get too jittery because otherwise, what type of team are we? Everyone wants to see us go out and play in a positive way. It's always a balance.
"When you're playing at home, a perfect world you start like we did out there today and just kick on and win the game nice and comfortable, manage things on your terms, but unfortunately that's not the way it is.
"We don't live in a perfect world so you have to be able to deal with the opposition, you have to be able to deal with certain things that happen in the course of the game.
"Listen, we're doing things in lots of different ways, for sure, this season, but it's just trying to build on some of the positive bits of play we had there today."
And the head coach believes his team will have learned a valuable lesson as they head into the quarter-finals next week.
"This is where we want to be, as in playing the top teams in the competition, and it's amazing that we're at home and that's on the back of some dogged performances in the pool stages.
"But we've got ourselves in a position where we have a home quarter-final and we need to make the most of it, because we were close to being really good today and we were really good in patches, but there were other patches where you're like, 'Ugh, we're making it more difficult than it needs to be’.
"But, we're getting there."
