Leo Cullen admitted his Leinster side were physically second best in the latter stages of their URC opener in Zebre on Saturday, but the Blues boss was still happy to dust off the cobwebs with a bonus-point win.
Tries from Luke McGrath, Rhys Ruddock (2) and Jason Jenkins had given Leinster a 28-10 half-time lead and a try bonus, but the margin was whittled down to four after Zebre responded to Dave Kearney's unconverted try with a touchdown of their own.
Leinster prevailed, however, and will look to tighten things up ahead of their second match day next week at home to Benetton.
"We had a great first half, put ourselves in a really good, commanding position," Cullen said afterwards.
"Second half, we were probably a bit loose. In terms of the physical contact points of the game, we were second best for most of that second half.
"We have plenty to work on, as you'd probably expect early season. We've only played one pre-season game, some lads are only coming in for their first action of the season. It's nice to get a bonus-point win away from home but plenty to work on.
Jason Jenkins earned @LeinsterRugby their bonus-point try just before half-time to lead 28-10 at Zebre
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Watch live on @RTE2 & @RTEplayer #rterugby #ZEBvLEI #URC pic.twitter.com/V47lKpzRfT
"We've a number of players still being managed back, they will come into the frame next week."
Ring-rust notwithstanding, Cullen knows his side must step up a gear next week at the RDS for their second Italian job in a week.
"We watched Benetton have a real strong performance against Glasgow last night when we were at the hotel. So it'll be a big game and hopefully we get a big crowd at the RDS next week," Cullen said.
"Early in the season you're always searching for that consistency. We were definitely inconsistent in some of our actions there today. That's the challenge, just for us to be better now. Lots of good stuff in the first half.
"We'll be trying to make sure we impose ourselves on the game next week and we have a better 80-minute performance - particularly on the defensive end.
"Five tries each there today and it's come down to conversions scored to see how the game is decided - not ideal from our point of view."
URC Recap: Leinster win, Munster beaten
"It's a win, we'll move on now. We had a couple of guys making their Leinster debuts - particularly Charlie Ngatai and Jason Jenkins - hopefully they'll come on for that game and go on to play a lot of games for Leinster."
Jenkins was among the Leinster try-scorers and his obvious delight after touching down was clear for all to see.
"He's such a big, strong physical man," Cullen said. "He had some very, very good stuff in the tight and did very well for his try. It's so hard to stop a man that size. Charlie as well showed lots of good touches.
"You're trying to build a cohesion in the side. It's a start, it's a win. Lots of good stuff in the first half, pretty ugly things taking place in the second half."
