Frawley makes superb first start
CONFERENCE leaders against the basement side in the competition had an inevitable outcome but it was also an occasion which showed that the Leinster production line is showing no sign of slowing down.
Ciarán Frawley made an impressive debut off the bench last weekend against Scarlets and he backed it up with a man of the match display in his first start last night.
The Southern Kings may have, as expected, offered little resistance but with Frawley pulling the strings for a youthful Leinster side, they ran in ten tries in a powerful performance.
Leinster had the bonus point in the bag by the 23rd minute when Dave Kearney sauntered through a porous defence to score, with Frawley’s conversion making it 24-7.
Leo Cullen’s men wasted little time in making their dominance count against the competition’s whipping boys and there was only going to be one winner once hooker Bryan Byrne got in for the first of his tries.
Frawley converted and he again added the extras when scrum-half Nick McCarthy sniped over after 11 minutes.
The South Africans hit back with a try from hooker Michael Willemse but it was all they offered all night.
Leinster took control again and led by 40-7 at the break after Barry Daly, Dave Kearney and Byrne again got through for scores before Frawley darted through for his first Leinster try six minutes from the break.
It was all one-way traffic again after the restart with McCarthy getting his second try after 48 minutes, with the Byrne twins impressing in the front-row and academy flanker Will Connors also putting in a good shift.
Frawley set up James Lowe for the try of the game after 52 minutes with an awesome crossfield kick on a night when Garry Ringrose made a good return from injury.
His replacement Jordan Larmour also got in on the scoring act after Daly got his second try of the night as Leinster went on a scoring rampage.
Next up for Leinster is a trip to Llanelli next week when Leo Cullen will get another chance to give several of his younger players a chance to impress against the champions.