Leinster crush Connacht to reach European quarter-final

Leinster scored eight tries as they crushed Connacht 56-20 on Friday for a comfortable aggregate victory in the European Champions Cup round of 16.

As the competition experimented with two-leg knockout matches for the first time, Leinster opened the second leg with a five-point lead from the away leg and ended it with a 82-41 aggregate victory.

James Lowe, who scored two tries in the first leg, scored four on Friday.

"I'm just the bearer of the fruits tonight," he told broadcaster BT Sport after the game.

Four-time champions Leinster will face either Leicester or Clermont in the last eight.

"They're both beasts in their own right," said Lowe.

Connacht started strongly.

Jack Carty cut the lead with a second-minute penalty but five minutes later missed a kick that would have put Connacht ahead on aggregate.

Leinster broke out of defence for the first time in the 12th minute and scrum half Jamison Gibson-Park finished the move by diving over.

The home team, playing in front of fans at their Aviva Stadium for the first time in a European game since 2019, took control and were ruthless close to the Connacht line.

After 19 minutes, centre Robbie Henshaw broke tackles to touch down.

Ten minutes later prop Tadhg Furlong burrowed over.

With Connacht centre Bundee Aki in the sin bin for a high tackle on Ireland team-mate Johnny Sexton, winger Lowe crossed for a fourth try of the first half and Henshaw gambolled through a huge gap in the first minute of the second half.

Seconds after Aki returned, Connacht hit back as fullback Tiernan O'Halloran crossed wide out.

When replacement prop Jack Aungier received a yellow for another dangerous tackle, Connacht were reduced to 13 men as punishment for forcing uncontested scrums.

Leinster exploited the