Leinster amassed a half-century of points to see off Zebre in a dominant display at the RDS and move to within one point of the GUINNESS PRO12 summit.

The hosts, who are now unbeaten in ten at the RDS in the league, earned a bonus point by half-time as Hayden Triggs, Isa Nacewa, Luke McGrath and Adam Byrne each crossed over.

Zebre, chasing a third win in four GUINNESS PRO12 games, showed some resolve early in the second-half but eventually Leinster’s class told.

Jordi Murphy, Sean Cronin, Garry Ringrose and Cian Kelleher added further tries as they completed a 52-0 triumph to keep their play-off ambitions on track.

Leinster enjoyed much of the early possession and they turned that into points after nine minutes when Triggs went over for his first try for the province, Nacewa converting.

Nacewa grabbed a try of his own shortly afterwards, Cathal Marsh making some ground with a nice break before the ball was worked left to the captain, who crossed over and converted.

Five minutes later the hosts were awarded a penalty inside the Zebre 22 and showed their intentions, with Marsh kicking for the corner, but the resulting rumbling maul was turned over.

Indeed, Leo Cullen’s side had to wait until the 36th minute for a third score, when Marsh one again found touch with a kickable penalty and McGrath peeled off the back of the maul to dot down.

Nacewa added the conversion and within a couple of minutes he had another. Marsh and Ringrose linked up well in midfield before Byrne crossed over on his first start at the RDS.

Cullen introduced front-row reinforcements at the break in the shape of Cronin and Michael Bent, while Kelleher replaced Nacewa, but they were met with a more resilient Zebre side in the early second-half exchanges.

That was until the hour mark, though, when an excellent burst from Kelleher had the Zebre defence scrambling to recover and Murphy capitalising to score.

That conversion was missed but Marsh made no such mistake when Cronin found his way over the line 11 minutes from time.

Ringrose came to the party with a seventh Leinster try four minutes later as tired Zebre legs began to toil at the RDS, Marsh once again adding two point from the tee for a 45-0 lead.

And it was Kelleher who brought up the half-century in the closing stages, sprinting clear from the halfway line to make it eight, Marsh again converting.

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