Dominant second half sees Leinster power past Bristol

Jordie Barrett marked his Leinster debut with a try, as the four time champions got their Investec Champions Cup campaign off to a winning start, powering past Bristol Bears 35-12 at Ashton Gate.

Squad depth proved the big difference between the province and the Premiership joint-leaders, as Pat Lam's side had no answer for Leinster’s game-changing players from the bench.

Bristol had been the better team in the opening half, but despite Leinster spending 10 minutes down to 13 players after two quick yellow cards for Rónan Kelleher and Max Deegan, the sides were level at 7-7 at half-time.

Leinster’s discipline was an issue all day, with 17 penalties conceded in total and Andrew Porter also going to the sin-bin in the second half.

However, after drafting Porter, Barrett, Caelan Doris and RG Snyman from the bench early in the second half, Leinster blitzed the Bears with three tries in just over five minutes, as Barrett got in for his debut score in between two Sam Prendergast tries, which secured the bonus-point.

The 21-year-old out-half enjoyed a personal haul of 20 points, converting all five Leinster tries, while Jordan Larmour and man of the match Josh van der Flier also crossed the line for the visitors.

A stop-start game took a while to warm in, in part down to a big injury stoppage which saw Bristol’s Irish out-half AJ MacGinty depart early, but the spectacle wasn't helped by referee Pierre Brousset, who struggled to get a handle on the scrum.

As the half wore on, Leinster’s discipline deteriorated, leading to a yellow card for Kelleher on 28 minutes, before Deegan followed him to the bin moments later for a trip on Fitz Harding. From that penalty, Bristol worked their way over for the opening try as Max Lahiff helped them