Leinster scored five tries in a 33-10 bonus-point win over Dragons in the BKT United Rugby Championship.
Dan Sheehan, Thomas Clarkson, Ciaran Frawley, Charlie Ngatai and Scott Penny scored Leinster’s tries with Ross Byrne converting four.
Aneurin Owen scored Dragons’ try with Cai Evans kicking a penalty and a conversion.
It took Leinster eight minutes to open the scoring when skipper Sheehan finished off a driving line-out but Dragons soon responded with a penalty from Evans.
The wet conditions made handling difficult but the Dragons’ pack did make a decent fist of testing their opponents to the full.
However, they were on the wrong side of the referee in scrum engagements, conceding six penalties in that area in the first half-hour to cost them a lot of territory.
It eventually told when Leinster scrum-half Ben Murphy showed some initiative to quickly tap a penalty and race into the opposition's 22. From there another penalty and a pre-planned move sent Clarkson through the defence to score.
Byrne’s conversion gave his side a 14-3 interval lead and within a minute that advantage had been extended.
Rio Dyer lost possession in his own half for Leinster to counter-attack in style with Frawley finishing off a sweeping move.
However, the visitors were dealt two blows in quick succession. First Tommy O’Brien was helped off with a leg injury before Owen chased a Rhodri Williams chip and won the race to touch down.
That cut the deficit to 21-10 but Dragons lost Jarrod Rosser and Aaron Wainwright to failed HIAs before a well-judged cross-field kick from Byrne created the bonus-point try for Ngatai.
The hosts had Taine Basham sent off for making head contact with his arm before Matthew Screech was yellow-carded, with Scott Penny’s last-minute try harsh on Dragons.
Scorers:
Dragons RFC: Try: Aneurin Owen. Conversion: Cai Evans. Penalty: Cai Evans.
Leinster: Tries: Dan Sheehan, Thomas Clarkson, Ciarán Frawley, Charlie Ngatai, Scott Penny. Conversions: Ross Byrne (4).
Teams:
Dragons: 15 Cai Evans, 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Steff Hughes (c), 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Jared Rosser, 10 Will Reed, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Taine Basham, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 George Nott, 4 Matthew Screech, 3 Lloyd Fairbrother, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Rhodri Jones. Replacements: 16 James Benjamin, 17 Aki Seiuli, 18 Luke Yendle, 19 Sean Lonsdale, 20 Ryan Woodman, 21 Dane Blacker, 22 Jack Dixon, 23 Ewan Rosser.
Leinster: 15 Ciarán Frawley, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Jamie Osborne, 12 Charlie Ngatai, 11 Jimmy O’Brien, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Ben Murphy, 8 James Culhane, 7 Will Connors, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 Jason Jenkins, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Thomas Clarkson, 2 Dan Sheehan (c), 1 Jack Boyle. Replacements: 16 Lee Barron, 17 Paddy McCarthy, 18 Michael Ala’alatoa, 19 Max Deegan, 20 Scott Penny, 21 Cormac Foley, 22 Harry Byrne, 23 Rob Russell.