Nine-try Leinster thrash Gloucester

James Lowe and Ronan Kelleher both crossed for try braces, with further scores coming from Josh van der Flier, James Ryan, Luke McGrath, Jordan Larmour and Caelan Doris. Ross Byrne added five conversions.

A youthful Gloucester side battled commendably, but last season’s finalists were a class above as they asserted themselves as the early Pool A leaders.

Gloucester initially made life difficult for Leinster, but the Irish province sprung into life on 12 minutes as wing Lowe raced over in the corner after flankers van der Flier and Caelan Doris combined, the former supplying the turnover and the latter providing an excellent lofted pass.

A second score came five minutes later as van der Flier crashed over amid a driving maul, and the hosts repeated the feat shortly after to hand hooker Kelleher his first of the evening.

Gloucester hooker Henry Walker was sin-binned for a high tackle on 36 minutes to make the visitors’ task even more daunting, and lock Ryan crashed over to secure Leinster’s bonus point before Kelleher cruised in for another in the final play of the half.

Lowe went close to a second score early in the second half, but his superb finish was chalked off due to a foot in touch, though scrum-half McGrath would skip over for Leinster’s sixth following another dominant scrum.

That scrum saw Gloucester prop Ciaran Knight yellow-carded as the visitors’ front row crumbled under immense pressure, and Lowe got his second of the night as Doris smartly fed his teammate down the blindside on 55 minutes.

Replacement hooker Dan Sheehan was the provider for the hosts’ eighth try on 75 minutes as his brilliant offload found substitute wing Larmour.

And after Gloucester wing Jacob Morris knocked on when he looked set to grab a consolation try, Doris was rewarded for a stellar performance as he crashed over amid another dominant maul in the final play.

Leinster and Gloucester face off again in Round 3 as the Irish province head to Kingsholm Stadium on January 14.