Leinster bury Lions with a late flurry

Press Association

Leinster climbed to third in the United Rugby Championship as they ran in five tries in a 31-7 victory over Lions.

It took less than two minutes for Leinster to hit the front as Jamie Osborne chased down his own kick and was able to cruise over the whitewash before Sam Prendergast converted.

Both sides had a try disallowed by the TMO, Prendergast’s score cancelled out for the hosts for offside before the Lions saw one chalked off after Erich Cronje was caught offside when Sibabalwe Mahashe ran the length of the field.

Leinster did finally double their lead when Tom Clarkson went in from close range but the South African visitors pulled one back before the break when Francke Horne ran through a gap to make it 14-7 at the break.

The scoreline remained the same until 10 minutes from time when Leinster breathed a huge sigh of relief when Hugo Keenan finished off a nice move to double their lead once again.

Leinster ran in two more tries in the final 10 minutes to run away with the contest, Rieko Ioane grabbing the bonus-point try before Jimmy O’Brien went over in the corner to round off the scoring.