Eager to bounce back from last weekend’s 43-25 defeat to Glasgow Warriors in Scotstoun Stadium, the Blues were in arrears on a couple of occasions during the opening period before ultimately assuming control of the play.

The Sharks had lost out to defending URC champions Munster in their opening game of the new URC season at Thomond Park last Saturday, but the Durban-based side opened the scoring in Ballsbridge when out-half Curwin Bosch knocked over a penalty with just over a minute gone on the clock.

Yet it didn’t take long for Leinster to get up and running as a prolonged attack inside the Sharks ‘22’ was bookended by Cormac Foley’s incisive pass out wide which released Larmour for his 34th try in a Leinster jersey.

Byrne was off-target from a difficult touchline conversion strike, however, and this opened the door for the Sharks to regain the initiative courtesy of a long-distance Bosch penalty on the stroke of 10 minutes.

Leinster remained one point adrift moving into the second quarter, but that all changed when Max Deegan marked his 100th appearance for the Blues by driving over the opposition whitewash for a converted try that propelled his side towards a 12-6 interval buffer.

Despite losing Lee Barron to a yellow-card on the resumption, Leinster extended their lead in his absence with a penalty from Byrne and 53rd minute replacement Russell made an instant impact by scoring his 11th try in just 19 senior appearances.

The introduction of Aphiwe Dyantyi off the Sharks off the bench following the recent completion of his four-year doping ban was an interesting sub-plot to this game, but it was one of Leinster’s reserve players who caught the eye in the final quarter. A Grand Slam winner with the Ireland U20s this year, Sam Prendergast superbly picked out O’Brien with his boot and the winger expertly side-stepped his way over the line for Leinster’s bonus point try.

The Sharks had looked set to end the game on a positive note when replacement hooker Dylan Richardson got through for a 80th minute five-pointer, but Leinster had the final say when a defensive error opened the door for Russell to score his second try of the game in stoppage-time.

Scorers:

Leinster: R Russell 2 tries, J Larmour, M Deegan, T O’Brien try each, H Byrne pen, 2 cons, S Prendergast con.

Sharks: D Richardson try, C Bosch 2 pens, B Chamberlain con.

TEAMS:

LEINSTER: C Frawley; T O’Brien, J Osborne, C Ngatai (R Russell 53), J Larmour; H Byrne (S Prendergast 62), C Foley (B Murphy 62); J Boyle (P McCarthy 60), L Barron (D Donnellan 67), M Ala’alatoa (R McGuire 60); R Molony, J Jenkins (B Deeny 57); R Ruddock (W Connors 53), S Penny (W Connors 26-29), M Deegan.

SHARKS: A Fassi; W Kok, F Venter, R Janse van Rensburg, M Potgieter (A Dyantyi 53); C Bosch (B Chamberlain 69), C Wright (Z Mkhabela 61); N Mchunu (D Bleuler 60), K van Vuuren (D Richardson 60), H Jacobs (K Mona 60); C Rahl (H Andrews 69), E van Heerden; J Venter, V Tshituka (G Cronje 36), P Buthelezi.

REF: F Vedovelli (FIR).