Leinster took just 34 minutes to register their bonus point as they saw off a depleted Glasgow Warriors side 55-19 at the RDS to claim a Champions Cup home quarter-final.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: LEINSTER 55 GLASGOW WARRIORS 19
Sean Cronin, Scott Fardy and Jonathan Sexton all touched down in a dazzling seven-minute spell before half-time, adding to earlier scores from Jordi Murphy and Leinster captain Isa Nacewa.
Trailing 34-7 and without the likes of Finn Russell, Jonny Gray and Stuart Hogg, bottom-placed Glasgow could only salvage some pride with second half scores from Adam Ashe and Niko Matawalu, his second of the game.
Nacewa and Fardy completed their braces and James Lowe scored on his European debut as the in-form province finished with eight tries in all. Having guaranteed top spot in the pool, Leo Cullen’s men close out the group stages away to Montpellier next Saturday.
Warriors played with plenty of spark early on, with Lee Jones threatening out wide and Nick Grigg also prominent. But Leinster’s first visit to the 22 resulted in a seventh-minute try, man-of-the-match Luke McGrath’s beautifully pulled-back pass sending Murphy in under the posts.
Glasgow then capitalised on flanker Murphy’s sin-binning for not being back 10 metres as Ali Price threatened to score from a tap penalty. That try arrived in the 16th minute, Matawalu’s sidestepping leaving two defenders for dead with Peter Horne’s conversion briefly bringing Glasgow level.
Nacewa used a Sexton pass to neatly unlock the Glasgow defence soon after, his converted try quickly followed by a Sexton penalty goal for a 17-7 lead. With Robbie Henshaw increasing his influence, particularly in the air, and Lowe beginning to light up the left wing, Leinster dominated the remainder of the first half.
After a maul had sucked in defenders, hooker Cronin bounced up off the deck to reach over on the half hour mark. Running back a loose Glasgow kick, Jordan Larmour freed up Lowe out wide and Sexton was tackled short before Fardy dived over unopposed in the left corner.
Fardy and Lowe created Leinster’s fifth and final try before the interval, again opening up Matawalu’s wing with the latter putting Sexton over in the corner. With the try scorer receiving treatment, Nacewa’s conversion attempt came back off the post.
Henshaw had a try ruled out on the restart as sufficient advantage had not been played for Glasgow, before Fijian flyer Matawalu went on the prowl for another try-of-the-season contender from deep.
The third quarter was scoreless until a 56th-minute maul set-up and McGrath’s well-timed pass released Nacewa to complete his brace from close range. Ross Byrne, on for Sexton, converted but a free-flowing Glasgow attack, with Jackson and Matawalu to the fore, ended with number 8 Ashe replying in the 61st minute.
Lowe crashed over from a Nacewa pass to open his Champions Cup account, although Leinster were sloppy at times as the game grew increasingly loose. They gave game-time to their reserves, including young hooker Bryan Byrne who came on for his debut at this level.
It was Lowe who erred when shooting out of defence and allowing Matawalu enough space to dive over in the right corner. Fittingly, workhorse Fardy had the final say in the 77th minute, crossing from a dominant maul with Ross Byrne tagging on his third conversion as Leinster won their first five pool games for the first time since 2004/05.
Giving his reaction afterwards, Leinster head coach Cullen said: “We’re very, very pleased to get a win and a bonus point as well. It was a little bit mixed as Glasgow were very aggressive at the start of the game and we probably coughed up the ball a little bit cheaply.
“When we got a bit more control and structure in the game we looked better, and we had the period 20 minutes before half time when I thought the lads were very, very good. We created a lot of good opportunities and we were more accurate at the ruck which led us to getting more good ball.
“Second half was a bit mixed really as there were changes coming in from both teams and both teams probably got into bad habits of playing too loose. Ultimately we’re obviously delighted to get the win and bonus point. It’s important to be winning games and maintain good habits.
“There’s a few areas we need to be better come the knockout stages. Even against Montpellier (next week), we can get punished for those errors. There are lots of areas that many of our players can improve upon which is always exciting for us. It was nice to score a few tries but we leaked a few tries so room to get better.”
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