Eight tries for Leinster in thrilling win over the Sharks

Having started the season with wins at Zebre and Dragons, the third leg of the Sharks' northern hemisphere tour against Leinster looked to be one in which they had a free shot at the home side.

They had nothing to lose and everything to gain, and it made for a wonderful game of rugby.

On a beautiful autumn evening, Leinster and the Sharks ran with conditions in front of a healthy 16,884 crowd at the RDS, and while the South Africans eventually faded as the second half wore on, they more than played their part in a brilliant 80 minutes.

The lead changed hands five times in a marvellous first half, which saw three tries apiece, and while Leinster took control in the second half the scores kept coming from both sides, with 13 tries in total, eight for Leinster and five for the Sharks.

In his first start of the BKT United Rugby Championship season, Johnny Sexton ran the show, scoring a try and kicking seven conversions from seven attempts, while his link-up play with Charlie Ngatai saw the New Zealander put in his best performance so far in a Leinster shirt.

Garry Ringrose came off the bench in the opening half to score two wonderful tries after Jason Jenkins had got them on the board in the opening minutes.

They led by just a point, 21-20 at the break, with further tries from Andrew Porter, Robbie Henshaw, Rob Russell, Sexton and John McKee capping off a brilliant win.

It came at significant cost though. Jack Conan was a pre-game withdrawal due to injury, while Jordan Larmour, Rhys Ruddock and Luke McGrath were also forced off in the first half, before Ryan Baird was stretchered off midway through the second half having landed on his head after a collision in the air.

As they have tended to this season, Leinster started hot, and