Despite the "bizarre" manner of their win over Edinburgh, the Leinster camp believe they are making good progress as they knuckle down to the business end of the season, according to Bernard Jackman.
Leo Cullen's men are still chasing the likes of last year's winners Bordeaux and Toulouse, who meet this weekend, as they attempt to win a fifth Champions Cup and a first since the victory over Racing 92 in Bilbao in 2018.
On the URC front, the defending champions have already suffered five losses, while European pool wins over Leicester and Bayonne were less than convincing.
Leinster came out of a 12-try round-of-16 shootout against Edinburgh with a 49-31 victory, after handing the Scots three first-half intercept tries and trailing with 25 minutes to play.
They face an injury-hit Sale Sharks this weekend, with the winners to play either Glasgow or Toulon in the semi-final.
If Leinster and Glasgow win, the game will be at Murrayfield, while the Aviva Stadium would host a potential meeting with the French sides should both progress.
However, former Ireland hooker Jackman, speaking on the RTÉ Rugby podcast, reckons some of the play during Sunday's chaotic victory at Aviva Stadium bodes well ahead of Saturday's quarter-final.
"I think are buzzing about [the performance]," said the former Connacht and Leinster hooker.
"[Leinster] didn't think it was perfect, but they felt that they were really sharp in a lot of areas and obviously some of the intercepts, they need to cut them out, but they were from trying to play, trying to be positive and being a little bit off in the execution.
"But when they attacked, obviously scoring 49 points, they had Edinburgh in all kinds of trouble very easily.
"It's a bizarre game because Leinster didn't have to do a huge amount of attacking phases to score 49 points and didn't have to defend very much to concede 31.
"I heard people giving out about the [senior coach] Jacques Nienaber defence, but actually three of the tries were nothing to do with defence. So it is a complete anomaly.
"What we know is that Leinster are attacking more and are kicking less than they had been earlier in the year.
"We know that Harry Byrne is nailed in now as starting 10. There's a bit of energy and a bit of freshness about them, but they need to be better.
"They're so lucky with the run they have. I mean, let's be honest, the Sale Sharks, especially with the two hookers [Luke Cowan-Dickie, injured and Nathan Jibulu, suspended] being out now [and prop] Bevan Rodd, they're seriously damaged.
'He wouldn't be immune to the noise around him' - The #RTERugby podcast panel on Rieko Ioane's best performance in a Leinster shirt against Edinburgh #RTESport https://t.co/bygVHFEbsn pic.twitter.com/N7GgDc0fxa
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) April 8, 2026
"The English teams don't have the depth that the top French teams and Leinster have, and even Glasgow so that's a big advantage.
"They can just be improving their game and have a little bit more time to perfect it.
"But I think there's a real positivity in camp there, even though from the outside it looks like it's been a very poor season.
"I think those internationals coming back in, [the final being in] Bilbao, the fact they haven't won it for a long time, I got a sense that they feel that they're in a very good place."
All Blacks back Rieko Ioane (above) produced his best performance since joining at the start of December and capped his outing with the final try.
"He was feeling the pressure and that was a bit of a release," said Jackman.
"Sometimes, like a striker, ball going in off his backside to get a goal and then goes into a run of form.
"They do need him at the end of the season. Hopefully that was the moment that he arrived."
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