Ferocious start sees perfect Leinster march on

LEINSTER took a huge step toward the quarterfinals with a fourth straight bonus point win in the competition.

The home side ran in eight tries and dominated Bristol, who rallied well in the closing stages thanks to a brace of tries from Iwan Hughes.

“You can’t give a side like Leinster a start like that,” said Bristol coach Mike Hall. “After five minutes we were 14-0 down and we never really got up to speed with the game in the firsthalf. But we regrouped at half-time.”

Those early tries came from Ed Byrne and Tommy O’Brien, while Cathal Marsh added the first two of five conversions after five minutes.

Bristol showed they are very dangerous with ball in hand when Sam Graham dived over after 11 minutes, but Conor O’Brien and Nick McCarthy wrapped up the bonus point by the 29th minute. McCarthy’s second meant Leinster A led 33-5 at the interval.

There was no let up on the resumption as Peadar Timmins crossed under the posts to stretch their lead to 40-5 seven minutes into the second-half.

Captain Bryan Byrne then got in on the act with a brace of tries as Leinster continued to impress at a chilly Dublin venue.

But Bristol were bright at the death, too. Hughes bagged his first with a fine score off a first phase move and his second arrived when Billy Searle picked out Hughes with an accurate crossfield kick.