Leinster 70 Zebre 6
The RDS desperately needs a competitive occasion to warm the cockles.
Montpellier should oblige next Friday but, on the premise that Leinster can only topple what's put in front of them, this all too predictable fixture was at least enlivened by 55 minutes of Johnny Sexton and Luke McGrath operating in tandem.
Sexton more than survived his first outing in seven weeks.
But Zebre, the great Pro 12 pretenders, brought a tag rugby attitude to Dublin, looking every inch a club that will be discarded for a Rome based side next season.
Their defensive resistance was weak and utterly disorganised. Take try number five on the stroke of half-time. Any self respecting outfit know to cover the short side against a scrum 45 metres from their try line. Zebre are nothing of the sort and Luke McGrath, who game on game heaps pressure on Kieran Marmion to remain Conor Murray’s Six Nations understudy, scampered untouched towards the 22 before sending the untouchable Rory O’Loughlin away.
Of course a decent 10,821 crowd came to see how Sexton would cope. His notoriously brittle frame got rattled after 10 minutes by South African flanker Derick Minnie. He received a hospital offload from Sean O'Brien and was whip-lashed to earth, and lay there cursing his luck before O'Brien apologetically scooped him up.
But Sexton played as smooth as ever, relishing captaincy duties as it permitted him to chatter away.
Poor James Tracy, one of many youngsters in this Leinster side experiencing an breakout season, received the full bark of both Sexton and O'Brien when ruining any hope of a quick tap with a wayward pass.
No matter. Leinster were in complete control, the tries flowing all night.
It’s always this way when Sexton plays but his growing halfback partnership with McGrath, a natural leader in his own right, has limitless potential.
Garry Ringrose served notice of the havoc he would cause with a line break after 30 seconds, but the first try took another five minutes as Robbie Henshaw broke the line, offloading inside to Ringrose. McGrath arrived to throw a looping skip pass that saw O'Brien jog over.
Sexton converted everything until Ross Byrne took over and did the same.
Try number two was all Hayden Triggs after Tracy broke off a static maul.
Try number three was a beauty. From Sexton's restart of Edoardo Padovani's second penalty, which made it 14-6, Devin Toner rose to gather possession. McGrath played a one-two with Zane Kirchner before racing away untouched.
It was all too easy but McGrath kept exposing atrocious Italian defending when breaking off a scrum to set up a Cian Healy power carry that secured the bonus point fourth try with 30 minutes played.
Leinster scored when they wanted.
When Ringrose ran a decent line off Sexton for the sixth try, Leo Cullen replaced his frontrow and Hayden Triggs with Rhys Ruddock moonlighting at lock.
Ringrose repeated those visionary lines of running off Ross Byrne as the minutes slowly ticked away and when halted he simply freed his hands to release O’Loughlin.
The hat-trick was a repeat trick; Ringrose holding possession long enough to commit a extra defender then slipping an offload inside to O’Loughlin.
Quality play with the only down side being Sean Cronin clutching his hamstring near the finish.
Scorers: Leinster - Tries: R O'Loughlin (3), G Ringrose (2), S O'Brien, H Triggs, L McGrath, C Healy, J Heaslip. Cons: J Sexton (6), R Byrne (4)
Zebre - Pen: E Padovani (2)
Leinster: Zane Kirchner; Adam Byrne, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Rory O'Loughlin; Johnny Sexton (capt), Luke McGrath; Cian Healy, James Tracy, Michael Bent; Devin Toner, Hayden Triggs; Dan Leavy, Sean O'Brien, Jack Conan. Replacements: Sean Cronin for J Tracy, Tadhg Furlong for M Bent, J McGrath for C Healy, Rhys Ruddock for H Triggs (ll 48 mins), Jamison Gibson-Park for L McGrath, Ross Byrne for J Sexton (both 55 mins), Jamie Heaslip for D Leavy (60 mins), Noel Reid for R Henshaw (66 mins), J Tracy for S Cronin (73 mins).
Zebre: Kurt Baker; Lloyd Greeff, Matteo Pratichetti, Tommaso Castello, Mattia Bellini; Edoardo Padovani, Marcello Violi; Andrea Lovotti, Tommaso D'Apice, Pietro Ceccarelli; Gideon Koegelenberg, George Biagi (capt); Derick Minnie, Federico Ruzza, Andries Van Schalkwyk. Replacements: Guillermo Roan for P Ceccarelli (6-15 mins, blood), Carlo Festuccia for T D'Apice (half-time), Maxime Mbandà for D Minnie (44 mins), Joshua Furno for G Koegelenberg, Giovanbattista Venditti for Matteo Pratichetti (both 51 mins), Guglielmo Palazzani for L Greeff (54 mins), Guillermo Roan for P Ceccarelli (60 mins), Serafin Bordoli for E Padovani (62 mins), Andrea De Marchi for A Lovotti (65 mins), P Ceccarelli for F Ruzza (73 mins).
Referee: Dan Jones (Wales).
