Rampant Leinster book home quarter-final
Leinster booked themselves a home quarter-final as they wrapped up top spot in Pool 3, beating Glasgow Warriors 55-19 on Sunday.
The tournament favourites romped to an eight-try victory as they cut loose at the RDS, sending a message to their rivals of their quality.
Jordi Murphy, Isa Nacewa (2), Sean Cronin, Scott Fardy (2), Jonathan Sexton and James Lowe crossed for those tries, with Niko Matawalu (2) and Adam Ashe responding for the Warriors, whose European campaign has been one to forget.
Leinster enjoyed the perfect first-half in Dublin as they crossed for five tries in an emphatic performance that had Glasgow on the ropes.
It had all started fairly well for the Warriors though as, with no pressure on them, they pressed to open the scoring in the early stages.
But in the eighth minute Leinster crossed for their first try when a lovely pull back pass from Luke McGrath saw Murphy race to the posts. Murphy, however, was yellow carded shortly after his score as referee Marius Mitrea penalised him for not retreating 10 metres at a penalty.
The penalties then racked up against Leinster but their defence held firm until 17 minutes, with Matawalu's step piercing a hole for 7-7.
From then on however it was all Leinster as, first Nacewa sliced through, before Sexton added a penalty to that conversion, making it 17-7.
Cronin was next to cross on 32 minutes as he scrambled over from the back of a maul and, with the game breaking up, Lowe and Jordan Larmour combined to set up Fardy for their fourth and bonus-point score. Glasgow found themselves 29-7 behind and struggling for answers.
There was still time for Sexton to go over too, set up by that man Lowe on the left wing, as Leinster were strolling at 34-7 to the good.
Leinster knew they could not afford to take their foot off the gas and looked to put the game out of sight early in the second-half. And despite Glasgow repelling the attacks with rugged defence, it did feel like only a matter of time before the Irish side would cross again.
Leo Cullen clearly had confidence the five points were secured when he made several changes including giving Sexton, Robbie Henshaw, Jack Conan and Jack McGrath a rest. Shortly after those alterations Nacewa was over for a brace, thanks to a flat ball from scrum-half McGrath.
Glasgow did respond five minutes later through an unconverted Ashe try, making it 41-12, with plenty of points seemingly left in the game.
So it proved as Nacewa turned provider on 68 minutes, setting up Lowe on a short angle from close-range, with Ross Byrne slotting the two.
At 48-12 it was looking embarrassing for Glasgow and therefore Matawalu's fine finish on the right wing at least gave their fans something to cheer.
But it would be Leinster who had the final say, through Fardy at the back of a maul, to add the gloss to an impressive bonus-point success.
The scorers:
For Leinster:
Tries: Murphy, Nacewa 2, Cronin, Fardy 2, Sexton, Lowe
Cons: Sexton 3, R Byrne 3
Pen: Sexton
Yellow Card: Murphy
For Glasgow:
Tries: Matawalu 2, Ashe
Cons: Horne, Thomson
Leinster: 15 Jordan Larmour, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Isa Nacewa (c), 11 James Lowe, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Jordi Murphy, 5 Scott Fardy, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Seán Cronin, 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 James Ryan, 20 Dan Leavy, 21 Nick McCarthy, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Rob Kearney
Glasgow: 15 Ruaridh Jackson, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Nick Grigg, 11 Niko Matawalu, 10 Peter Horne, 9 Ali Price, 8 Adam Ashe, 7 Matt Smith, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Greg Peterson, 4 Rob Harley (c), 3 Siua Halanukonuka, 2 George Turner, 1 Jamie Bhatti
Replacements: 16 Grant Stewart, 17 Alex Allan, 18 D’Arcy Rae, 19 Kiran McDonald, 20 Chris Fusaro, 21 George Horne, 22 Brandon Thomson, 23 Henry Pyrgos
Referee: Marius Mitrea (Italy)
Assistant referees: Matteo Liperini (Italy), Simone Boaretto (Italy)
Television match official: Stefano Pennè (Italy)