All Blacks star Jordie Barrett made an immediate impact as Leinster romped to a 35-12 Investec Champions Cup victory over Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate.
The first half proved to be a tight affair as the teams went in level at 7-7 with Max Lahiff and Jordan Larmour trading tries, but the Irishmen pulled away when the cavalry arrived.
After Ireland’s Autumn Nations Series clash against the Wallabies last weekend, many of their top stars resided on the bench, but they made the desired impact in the second period.
Barrett was one of those who came on and the New Zealander marked his Leinster debut with a try, while Sam Prendergast (twice) and Josh van der Flier also went over to complete the Champions Cup win.
While Bristol have become renowned for their attacking game, the Irish province have had the stingiest defence in the United Rugby Championship and they shut down the hosts effectively throughout.
It was not perfect from Leo Cullen’s men, though, who often tested the boundaries of the law and it led to a penalty-strewn first quarter, with no side managing to get a score.
The infringements totted up for the visitors and eventually referee Pierre Brousset ran out of patience as Ronan Kelleher was yellow carded.
Moments later the hooker was followed into the sin-bin by team-mate Max Deegan after he cynically tripped Fitz Harding while also tackling Harry Randall.
It was almost an impressive bit of dexterity by Deegan to stop two players at the same time, but it was correctly penalised.
In fact, Leinster appeared to master the art of tripping their opponents after Prendergast was perhaps himself fortunate to escape a yellow card earlier in the game for a similar act, with his arm coming across to just about save him.
Despite those infringements, Bristol were struggling to punish their opponents, but they did finally manage to get over the line with Leinster down to 13 when Lahiff crossed the whitewash from close-range.
Given the Bears’ ability to create, the loss of Kelleher and Deegan could have been crucial, but they managed the next 10 minutes superbly.
Winning the restart helped the visitors control play and Prendergast’s dink over the top of the defensive line caused havoc. Rich Lane ran forward in an attempt to collect the ball but he knocked on and it fell into the grateful arms of Larmour, who touched down to level matters at the interval.
The second period initially continued in a similar fashion to the first with mistakes and penalties dominating the play. Once again, the Irish province used their feet in the wrong way – this time Joe McCarthy was incredibly fortunate to escape a yellow – while the scrum was a source of frustration for the referee.
In the end, Brousset lost patience and sent Andrew Porter, who had only just come on, and Max Lahiff to the sin-bin.
That ultimately seemed to benefit Leinster, however, as a completed scrum, one of just a few in the match, led to the decisive try.
Barrett was involved as he drew in the defence and gave Prendergast the space to challenge the line. The talented fly-half still had plenty of work to do but he broke through, dummied the final defender and crossed the whitewash.
It was the score which broke Bristol’s resistance and Leinster enjoyed the final 25 minutes as the All Blacks centre made his mark by going over before the visitors manufactured an utterly stunning try.
Leinster had struggled to put together cohesive moves but, with their Ireland stars on the field, it all came together. Caelan Doris started the attack and combined with Porter before the loosehead sent RG Snyman clear with a deft off-load.
Snyman, another outstanding Test player, galloped away and found Prendergast, who once again did the rest.
Van der Flier then added to their tally before Gabriel Ibitoye had the final word for Bristol, but it proved to be just a consolation.
The teams
Bristol Bears: 15 Rich Lane, 14 Jack Bates, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Bill Mata, 7 Fitz Harding (c), 6 Santiago Grondona, 5 Joe Owen, 4 James Dun, 3 Max Lahiff, 2 Harry Thacker, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Gabriel Oghre, 17 Jake Woolmore, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 Steven Luatua, 20 Benjamin Grondona, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Joe Jenkins, 23 Benjamin Elizalde
Leinster: 15 Ciaran Frawley, 14 Jordan Larmour, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Jimmy O’Brien, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan (c), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Max Deegan, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Jack Boyle
Replacements: 16 Gus McCarthy, 17 Andrew Porter, 18 Tom Clarkson, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Caelan Doris, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Jordie Barrett
Referee: Pierre Brousset
Assistant Referees: Vincent Blasco, Julien Caullier
Television Match Official: Tual Trainini
