Leinster ... 48 Swansea ... 19 A day that began with the frustration of injury headaches culminated in an eight-try demolition at Donnybrook last night as Leinster's relentless march to a home quarter-final in the Heineken European Cup continued with a fifth successive win in Pool Four.
Swansea proved game opponents initially, but once the home side discovered a rhythm and accuracy to match their enthusiasm, they lacerated their Welsh visitors to pieces almost at will.
On a night when there were several excellent individual contributions - most notably Shane Horgan, three-try hero Denis Hickie, Christian Warner, Aidan McCullen and Keith Gleeson - it was number eight Victor Costello who deservedly won the man of the match garland for a wonderfully combustible performance.
They now go forward to meet Bristol in their final pool match at the Memorial Stadium, probably not needing to win to secure a home quarter-final. What happens elsewhere this weekend will reveal their exact task.
Leinster's final training session on Thursday night proved potentially calamitous, with second row Leo Cullen picking up a calf strain and full back Girvan Dempsey discovering that the groin injury sustained against Connacht yesterday week had resurfaced with a vengeance, denying him a starting place.
When Brian O'Driscoll complained of a sore toe, coach Matt Williams must have wondered what he had done to deserve such ill-luck. Fortunately, Ireland's captain proved a quick healer and was passed fit to play late yesterday afternoon.
The reshuffle saw Gordon D'Arcy switch to full back in place of Dempsey, David Quinlan introduced on the wing, and Aidan McCullen come into the second row. Peter McKenna and Aidan Kearney were added to the bench.
Swansea dominated the opening exchanges, impressively recycling possession and probing both on the fringes and closer to the touchlines. Leinster's defence was patient and, for the most part, disciplined, fanning out and waiting for the isolated ball carrier. In this respect, none prospered more than Eric Miller.
The Welsh side's dominance of possession early on reduced the capacity crowd to the odd strangled exhortation, the frustration palpable from the terraces. Swansea certainly weren't cowed by a side that had thrashed them earlier in the campaign, playing with a fluency and precision that had the home side's tackle count spiralling.
Brian O'Meara kicked an excellent 45-metre penalty, and Swansea's Gavin Henson proved equally adroit from a similar distance to tie the scores at 3-3.
Leinster temporaily lifted the siege, Malcolm O'Kelly surging clear only to knock on trying to regather. Soon after, Denis Hickie's kick and chase was denied by Swansea wing Richard Rees' fingertips.
Henson continued to pepper the touchlines with raking kicks, and Leinster's mounting unease became manifest in some handling errors. Henson tagged on a second penalty before Leinster threw off the shackles in spectacular fashion.
Breaks by Shane Horgan and Keith Gleeson offered an inkling of what was to come.
Then Warner eased through a gap on his own 10-metre line, released O'Driscoll who scampered cross field in search of support.
Prop Emmet Byrne chose a gorgeous angle. Three rucks later and Costello swatted aside the last defender to cross close to the posts. O'Meara converted and suddenly Leinster cut loose, their earlier hesitancy evaporating in a welter of individual brilliance.
With Swansea flanker Colin Charvis in the sin-bin, Leinster grabbed two tries, the first through Keith Gleeson following another great break by Horgan and the second set up by two sumptuous dummies from Costello, before he released Hickie to cruise the final 20 metres. O'Meara failed with both conversions, but the crowd was now thoroughly involved and Leinster had discovered their rhythm.
Leinster's appetite was well and truly whetted and, 48 seconds after the re-start, they grabbed a fourth try, Hickie's second. Swansea full back Gareth Swales's garryowen was swallowed up on the halfway line by O'Kelly and from the ruck, O'Meara chipped cleverly and Hickie won the foot-race to regather and glide over close to the corner. The try went unconverted, but Leinster had eased to a 25-6 lead.
Maybe it was the ease with which they wrested control that lulled the home side into a little defensive laxity. Henson glided through a flat-footed defence and showed enough strength to ride a couple of tackles to touch down beside the posts.
He posted the conversion and tagged on a penalty to cancel out a similar strike by O'Meara a minute previously to reduce Leinster's advantage to 28-16.
Leinster's response was typical of their form this season. A brace of tries followed, the first from Aidan McCullen after excellent work by Shane Byrne, and then Hickie showed good strength in fobbing off a tackle to canter over for his third.
O'Meara was having an off-day with the boot but it hardly mattered last night.
Henson was demonstrating poise in adversity, adding a drop goal to record all 19 of his team's tally.
A little bit of the lustre left the home side's performance as the pace of the game was fractured by some errors on both sides and then a welter of replacements.
Leinster, though, weren't finished and a try by replacement Des Dillon seemed to end the scoring, but fittingly on a night on which he was winning his 50th cap for his province, D'Arcy was allowed the final curtain call, gliding through a gap and cruising the final 30 metres to round off an excellent night for the home side.
Donnybrook statistics
SCORING SEQUENCE
1st min: O'Meara penalty 3-0
5th min: Henson penalty 3-3
27th min: Henson penalty 3-6
32nd min: Costello try8-6
O'Meara conversion 10-6
39th min: Gleeson try15-6
41st min: Hickie try 20-6
HALF-TIME: ... 20-6
41st min: Hickie try25-6
46th min: Henson try25-11
Henson conversion 25-13
51st min: O'Me'ara penalty 28-13
52nd min: Henson penalty 28-16
53rd min: McCullen try33-16
Hickie try 38-16
Henson drop goal 38-19
D Dillon try 43-19
D'Arcy try 48-19
FULL-TIME ... 49-19
TEAM LINE-UPS
LEINSTER: G D'Arcy; D Hickie, B O'Driscoll,
S Horgan, D Quinlan; C Warner, B O'Meara;
R Corrigan (capt), S Byrne, E Byrne; A McCullen, M O'Kelly; E Miller, V Costello, K Gleeson. Replacements: P Coyle for E Byrne 69 mins;
N Spooner for Warner 72 mins; D Dillon for Costello 75 mins; A Kearney for McCullen 75 mins; B O'Riordan for O'Meara 75 mins;
P McKenna for Quinlan 79 mins.
SWANSEA: G Swales; S Payne, M Taylor,
S Gibbs, R Rees; G Henson, S Cordingley;
D Morris (capt), B Balshen, D Dorsey; J Slade,
J Thomas; D Thomas, J Bater, C Charvis. Replacements: C Wells for Balshen 58 mins;
R Jenkins for D Tomas 58 mins; A Thomas for Henson 72 mins; R Jones for Cordingley 72 mins; S Winn for Gibbs 75 mins; R Francis for Charvis 75 mins.
REFEREE: J Jutge (France).
YELLOW CARD: C Charvis (Swansea) 33-43 mins; C Wells (Swansea) 79 mins.
