Leinster 59 Cardiff 22

Leinster cruised to an easy victory over a hapless Cardiff Blues outfit on the two teams' return to Pro12 action.

Cardiff had come close to upsetting Toulon on home turf a week earlier, but they had no answer to the firepower of Leinster, who ran in a point a minute in a one-sided first half. David Kearney's break from half-way laid the platform for Richardt Strauss to cross after four minutes, and even at that early stage all signs pointed towards it being a tough evening for Cardiff. Jonny Sexton's conversion was quickly followed by a second Leinster try, which was scored after good interplay between Sexton and Fergus McFadden sent Ian Madigan racing away. Sexton's second conversion made it 14-0, though the Blues enjoyed some respite courtesy of a Leigh Halfpenny penalty three minutes later. The three-pointer merely delayed the inevitable, however, as Brian O'Driscoll's break created an opportunity for the ball to be worked left for Jamie Heaslip to cross. The hosts held a comfortable lead and their consistently high level of intensity was rewarded with three more tries before half-time. Kearney crossed in the corner to secure an early bonus point, Heaslip grabbed his second on the half-hour from the scrum, before Cian Healy capped a dominant first half for the hosts when he crashed over from close range. It took just two second-half minutes for Leinster to add to their lead through Jordi Murphy's try, but, to their credit, the Blues rallied, and their efforts were rewarded with a try to Alex Cuthbert. Leinster found an instant response as Madigan sent Damian Browne over, but the Blues restored a little more pride with second and third tries, first from Halfpenny, whose conversion made it 54-15, and then from Tom James, who swooped on an awkward bouncing kick to score. But Leinster had the final say, with Fionn Carr's unconverted try rounding off a satifying evening for the hosts.