While Leinster easily brushed aside Connacht in the second half of their BKT United Rugby Championship Interpro at Aviva Stadium, the 52-17 win could have been very different had it not been for the final three minutes of the first half.
The defending champions had blown a 14-0 lead through indiscipline, with tries for Dylan Tierney Martin and Finlay Bealham, along with a Sam Gilbert penalty, putting Connacht into a surprise 17-14 advantage heading to half time.
Leo Cullen would have been expecting to have to rally the troops at half time, but instead his troops rallied themselves as they finished the half with a Sam Prendergast try to move back in front, a sucker punch from which the visitors never recovered.
"It is huge, it's just a totally different complexion," Cullen told RTÉ Sport of Prendergast's try just before the break.
And the Leinster head coach (below) was delighted with how his side flexed their muscles after the break to secure their seventh win in a row in all competitions.
"We scored some good tries, started the game really, really well, but then Connacht were in the ascendancy for a period.
"Obviously, we lose Joe McCarthy to the bin and then after being 14-0 up, suddenly we're 17-14 down.
"We scored just before half-time after a bit of sustained pressure, which is great, Sam gets over.
"You're going to have to weather these tricky periods in the game.
"You're five metres out from your tryline and we give away a penalty, then it's a tap-penalty, then they get over and they get another three points.
"Joe's in the bin at that stage, then they score another try, so, it was just a sticky 15-20 minute period for us.
"We deal with what we deal with, and we showed good composure."
Their most recent wins against Leicester, Ulster and Munster have come through grinding their opponents down, but they showed a greater attacking flair against Connacht, particularly in the second half, much to the pleasure of Cullen.
"We talked a little bit this week about making sure we prepare properly for a proper contest this week.
"I thought the bench guys all added in their own different ways in the second half, which allowed us to keep the pressure on and score five unanswered tries in the second half.
"We're really pleased, but the big thing is making sure we enjoy being out there.
"I think the group managed the second half really well, playing the right areas of the field and some really good passages of play where we finished some really good long-range tries.
"We're going to be turning the page quite quickly into Champions Cup now next week and there's some good positive selection headaches even off the back of today and the last couple of weeks.
"It's a good mix and we see some other players coming into the team that maybe haven't played quite as much in recent weeks, so yes, lots of positives."
For Connacht, it’s a seventh defeat from 10 games this season, and the third time on the spin where the province have seen huge scoreline swings in the minutes either side of the break.
And it was a familiar feeling for head coach Stuart Lancaster (above).
"The try before half-time was a real sucker punch and it was exactly the same against Ulster," Lancaster told RTÉ Sport.
"So that period between the end of the first half and the first 10 minutes of the second half, those critical periods, championship minutes that people talk about, we're not very good at, it's fair to say.
"We've got a lot of work to do to improve not just technically and tactically but also our mindset in those minutes.
"Because if you give Leinster possession through a poor offload, through a missed lineout, through a poor kick, then the weight of possession will inevitably cause any defence to struggle. And we did struggle in the second half on the back of that.
"Then you chase the game, the rush defence comes on and it makes a bad job worse."
