Leinster in record rout against Saints

After that the three-time winners marched to a nine try triumph that sent the Saints marching home with a sack full of unwanted records – most points conceded (60), biggest margin of defeat (47), most tries conceded (nine) and most conversions conceded (six).

Having been hammered 37-10 in Round Three at Franklin's Gardens the previous weekend, a much changed Saints side travelled with a lot of work to do and a lot of pride to restore.

They managed to do that and more in the first quarter.

Forced to respond to a fourth minute try by right wing Adam Byrne for the home side, Saints found themselves 6-5 ahead after 16 minutes and then 13-5 to the good midway through the half.

Steve Myler made up for an earlier miss, his first in the Champions Cup off the tee this season, to land two penalties and then he converted a near length of the field interception try from Ken Pisi.

That was a 14 point turnaround given that Leinster were going in for the kill at the other end and no sooner had Romain Poite award the try than home fans were thinking of what happened three years ago when the Premiership side came to Dublin and won a week after taking a hiding at home.

The greasy pitch was making life difficult for the home runners, but it was the brilliant work at the breakdown by Calum Clark, Jamie Gibson and Teimana Harrison that caused the most difficulties. They slowed the ball down and made it a far more physical contest than a week earlier.

But when Leinster finally got to grips with what was going on they became ruthless. By half-time they had converted six raids in the Saints' 22 into four tries, with Byrne bagging two of them.

Scrumhalf Luke McGrath and Sean O'Brien added the other first half tries and skipper Isa Nacewa took his Leinster points tally over the 600 mark with a penalty and here conversions. That made it 29-13 at the interval and the onslaught didn't stop there.

Front row men Tadhg Furlong and Sean Cronin joined the party with tries in the first six minutes of the second half and then it became a long march to the death for the visitors as Leinster piled on the agony with three more tries, two of them when Gibson was in the sin-bin.

The scorers:

For Leinster:

Tries:Byrne 2, McGrath, O'Brien, Furlong, Cronin, Nacewa 2, O'Loughlin

Cons: Nacewa 4, Byrne 2

Pen: Nacewa

For Northampton Saints:

Try:Pisi

Con: Myler

Pens: Myler 2

Yellow card: Jamie Gibson (Northampton Saint, 53 – cynical foul, kicking the ball out of the back of the scrum)

Teams:

Leinster: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Adam Byrne, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Isa Nacewa (captain), 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Sean O’Brien, 5 Hayden Triggs, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Jack McGrath.

Replacements: 16 James Tracy, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Rhys Ruddock, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Noel Reid, 23 Rory O’Loughlin.

Northampton Saints: 15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi (captain), 12 JJ Hanrahan, 11 Tom Collins, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Calum Clark, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 James Craig, 4 Api Ratuniyarawa, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Charlie Clare, 1 Ethan Waller.

Replacements: 16 James Fish, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Michael Paterson, 20 Ben Nutley, 21 Tom Kessell, 22 Rory Hutchinson, 23 James Wilson.

Referee: Romain Poite (France)

Assistant referees: Tual Trainini (France), Mathieu Noirot (France)

TMO: Eric Briquet-Campin (France)

Source: @ChampionsCup