Glasgow win against Leinster hides reality of top teams' cynicism on the pitch

"That was the least enjoyable game that I have ever played," said the bruised and battered No.9 after the match. Admittedly Cusiter had just been knocked into next year by a Leinster forward who appeared out of another dimension and hit him with the force of the apocalypse. The hardy scrum-half lay prone on the ground for a couple of minutes, causing concern amongst the crowd that was not shared by his team mates who, Cusiter later admitted, had given him some stick for his dying swan act.

He eventually picked himself up and dusted himself down only for another Leinster forward to catch him around the head with a swinging arm. Little wonder he called it a "tough, tough match".

Forget the 30-6 scoreline in Glasgow's favour, Leinster won this match in that they got exactly what they came for. They were never going to beat Glasgow so coach Michael Cheika sent his 2nd XV to Firhill with a mission to stop the home team getting a bonus point which, without going through all the permutations, would almost certainly ensure Leinster's 1st XV the benefit of a home semi-final in the play-offs. Job done.

Leinster didn't come to play but just to stop Glasgow playing and they succeeded. The Dublin club are one of the most disciplined sides in the league but the referee showed them four yellow cards and frankly if it had been 14 they would have had no cause for complaint. You could almost hear the laughter from the dressing room after the match because they got away with murder. Leinster mimic Munster in raising cheating to an art form, they synchronise their efforts in a brazen show of defiance, daring the referee to send four, five, six of them to the sidelines.

James Jones is one of the better blowers in the league but even he could not begin to comprehend, never mind cope with, Leinster's cynicism.

In fairness Leinster were wonderfully physical at the breakdown, something Glasgow utterly failed to match. Kelly Brown is one of Sean Lineen's main ball carriers but he looks like a stick man compared to some of the monsters in the opposition. How will he survive in the Guinness Premiership next season?

If Glasgow qualify for the play-offs – and a win against the Scarlets on the final weekend or a loss by Edinburgh today will see them through – they will be lucky to lose by 50 points if they play like this against Munster, the Ospreys or Leinster's first-choice team. The passing was dreadful, decision making was poor and physicality nowhere to be felt. They fell one try short of a bonus point after squandering half a dozen scoring chances.

To their credit a very healthy crowd of just under 5,000 fans did not appear to mind one jot. They raised the roof at the end of the match and they did so again when the players came back to bid Firhill farewell, especially those who are moving on.

Brown and Mark McMillan were cheered but the most noise was inevitably reserved for Dan Parks, despite the fact that he had one of his less effective evenings in a Glasgow shirt. The fly-half threw one scoring pass behind Max Evans and another one went straight into touch.

Parks will play in Cardiff next season so his potential replacement took to the field late on and it wasn't Ruaridh Jackson. Nineteen-year-old Duncan Weir stepped into the fly-half role for the final seven or so minutes and didn't put a foot wrong, which is more than most of his team-mates can claim. On a disappointing night we may have been given a glimpse of the future with the maestro's baton being passed metaphorically from one playmaker to another. But whoever eventually replaces him, Parks still owes Glasgow a couple of decent shifts.