| Leinster (12) 47 |
| Tries: Van der Flier, Kelleher, Lowe, Milne, Sheehan, Conan, Turner Cons: H Byrne 3, R Byrne 3 |
| Bulls (14) 14 |
| Tries: Arendse Pens: Goosen 3 |
A scintillating second-half display saw Leinster emerge 47-14 victors over the Bulls in the battle of the United Rugby Championship top two at the RDS.
Kurt-Lee Arendse crossed to help the visitors lead 14-12 at the break despite tries for Josh van der Flier and Ronan Kelleher for Leinster.
James Lowe, Michael Milne, Dan Sheehan, Jack Conan and Liam Turner went over in the second half for the hosts.
Leinster now open up a nine-point lead over their opponents in the table.
Jake White’s visiting South African team immediately set the tone with their physicality and opened an advantage in the first 15 minutes with two long-range Johan Goosen penalties.
Leinster welcomed back a host of their Irish Six Nations winners and clicked into life on 20 minutes with a trademark score.
Van der Flier went in under the posts for a converted try thanks to a Jamie Osborne offload after Jordan Larmour had danced through the defence.
Leinster then took on their visitors at their own game with a rumbling maul. Kelleher assumed his usual position at the rear and dotted down as the South Africans disintegrated.
Harry Byrne came close with the touchline conversion but Leinster had a six-point lead on the half hour.
Five minutes before the break David Kriel sent Arendse racing down the wing for a score and Leinster were dealt a double blow as captain Luke McGrath was sin-binned when the officials deemed his efforts to stop the Springbok winger were illegal.
Goosen then sent the visitors in ahead at the break thanks to his third penalty with the last kick of the half.
That lead lasted less than five minutes, though, as Lowe’s dart down the blindside saw him over in the corner and Byrne added a wonderful two-pointer.
The bonus point was secured just two minutes later as replacement prop Milne put the finishing touches on a beautiful Leinster move that saw some fast and deft handling.
Leo Cullen’s side had some defensive work to do but put the game to bed on 65 minutes when Sheehan ensured both home hookers got on the scoresheet as he dived over in the corner after Conan made ground off a scrum.
They weren’t finished either as Conan went over himself for a seven-pointer, barrelling through Willie le Roux for a powerful score.
Incredibly, there was still time for a seventh as Leinster proved their strength in depth again as another sub Turner finished after Rob Russell’s break. Ross Byrne had replaced his brother at fly-half and landed his third conversion to round off the scoring.
Leinster: Larmour; Russell, Henshaw, J Osborne, Lowe; H Byrne, McGrath; Healy, Kelleher, Ala’alatoa, R Molony, J McCarthy, Baird, Van der Flier, Conan.
Replacements: Sheehan, Milne, Furlong, Jenkins, Doris, Gibson-Park, R Byrne, Turner.
Bulls: Le Roux; Arendse, Moodie, Kriel, Williams; Goosen, Papier; Steenekamp, Van der Merwe, W Louw, Vermaak, Nortje, Van Staden, E Louw, Coetzee.
Replacements: J Grobbelaar, Matanzima, M Smith, Ludwig, Gumede, Z Burger, C Smith, Vorster.
Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)
