Leinster came alive in the second half of their final Champions Cup pool stage match to thrash Racing 92 36-10 at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
The Irish Province now qualifies as the top seed for the play-offs and will have a home run to the final if they make it that far, with the showpiece hosted at the Aviva Stadium.
Leo Cullen’s side held a narrow 7-5 advantage at half-time thanks to a try in the 14th minute for Jimmy O’Brien, with Ross Byrne adding the conversion. Hooker Jannick Tarrit scored Racing 92‘s first-half try.
Christian Wade scored in the 48th minute for Racing, but from there, it was one-way traffic with fullback Hugo Keenan scoring twice for Leinster along with tries for flanker Josh van der Flier, a second for O’Brien and Garry Ringrose grabbing the side’s sixth. Ross Byrne added two conversions throughout the match, with Harry Bryne converting Ringrose’s score.
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Racing were under pressure early on from a blocked Russell kick, but Jack Conan lost the ball forward as Leinster’s phase-building went unrewarded.
Racing’s captain Gael Fickou also won a turnover penalty to repel the home side, but the Leinster attack clicked on the quarter-hour mark.
Using quick line-out ball, Jamie Osborne and Ross Byrne worked an opening in midfield for Ringrose who took a lovely line to burst through and send O’Brien over on the left.
The well-struck conversion from Byrne was the difference at the break, with Leinster regularly conceding penalties.
Despite James Ryan stealing a crucial line-out, Jordan Larmour’s sin-binning for a deliberate knock-on invited the French outfit forward again.
Hooker Tarrit duly wriggled through a line-out maul to touch down, and although Russell pushed the conversion wide, Leinster’s decision to turn down a couple of kickable penalties backfired as the deficit remained at two points.
Russell missed a long-range penalty early in the second half, yet the Scottish star soon broke the defensive line, firing a pinpoint pass wide for Wade to finish off. The try’s creator was off target from the tee, though.
Barely four minutes later, Leinster were back in front. Ringrose put Byrne through a gap, replacement Dan Sheehan carried and slipped a deft offload away for Keenan to wrestle his way over the whitewash.
A cleverly-worked short line-out saw Van der Flier driven over for try number three, and O’Brien turned provider for the bonus-point try. He weaved through from a Byrne pass before offloading for Keenan to complete his brace.
Fly-half Byrne flung over the conversion for a 24-10 scoreline, and Ringrose sparked a strong finish from Leo Cullen’s men. He followed up his own kick through with a brilliant flicked pass for O’Brien to double his tally.
Deservedly getting on the scoresheet himself in the dying embers, the Leinster skipper dived over in the left corner from a pass from Byrne, whose younger brother Harry supplied the extras.