Jordan Larmour, Max Deegan, Rob Russell and Tommy O’Brien were all amongst the tries in front of 10,404 spectators at the RDS on Saturday as Leinster claimed a bonus point victory against Hollywoodbets Sharks in their first home game of the new United Rugby Championship season.

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 campaign at Thomond Park seven days ago, 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 in the action.

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 Jordan for his 34th try in a Leinster shirt.

Harry 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 10 minutes.

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

Despite losing starting hooker 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 immediate 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 to seal a bonus point for Leinster.

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 in stoppage-time.

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

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

LEINSTER: C Frawley; T O’Brien, J Osborne, C Ngatai, 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, S Penny, M Deegan.

Replacements: W Connors for Penny (26-29), R Russell for Ngatai, Connors for Ruddock (both 53), B Deeny for Jenkins (57), P McCarthy for Boyle, R McGuire for Ala’alatoa (both 60), S Prendergast for Byrne, B Murphy for Foley (both 62), D Donnellan for Barron (67).

HOLLYWOODBETS SHARKS: A Fassi; W Kok, F Venter, R Janse van Rensburg, M Potgieter; C Bosch, C Wright; N Mchunu, K van Vuuren, H Jacobs; C Rahl, E van Heerden; J Venter, V Tshituka, P Buthelezi.

Replacements: G Cronje for Tshituka (36), A Dyantyi for Potgieter (53), D Richardson for van Vuuren, K Mona for Jacobs, D Bleuler for Mchunu (all 60), Z Mkhabela for Wright (61), B Chamberlain for Bosch, H Andrews for Rahl (both 69).

REF: F Vedovelli (FIR).