Leinster produced an assured display as they defeated the Exeter Chiefs 22-10 in Saturday afternoon's Round 3 British and Irish Cup encounter in Sandy Park, Exeter.
A brace of first half tries from David Kearney, a late Paul O'Donohoe effort and seven points from the boot of Shaun Berne made it three wins out of three in the competition as they retained pole position in Pool A.
Leinster got off to a dream start when David Kearney took a pass from Eoin O'Malley who scythed through the Chiefs midfield at pace with just two minutes on the clock.
The move began from a Leinster lineout, which Malcolm O'Kelly gathered, and a swift move at pace followed from Paul O'Donohoe to Shaun Berne found O'Malley who broke for 40 metres before offloading to Kearney inside the 22 to touch down.
Berne's conversion fell narrowly wide of the upright, but Leinster took a deserved 5-0 lead.
Exeter, who fielded two former Leinster Academy products in flanker David Gannon and prop Ruaidhrí Murphy, were on the back foot for the next 10 minutes before a break from scrum-half Richard Bolt led to a penalty inside the Leinster 22.
Out-half Richard Gray opted to kick for touch and from the ensuing lineout hooker Sam Blythe rclaimed the ball and touched down from close range to level the scores at 5-5 after 13 minutes.
Seven minutes later the hosts took the lead when right winger Sean Marsden benefited from a superb cross-kick by Gray to claim his side's second try, but again the out-half's conversion effort fell wide of the sticks.
Exeter were reduced to 14 men when Matt Cornwell was yellow-carded for a professional foul in the 25th minute as Leinster upped the tempo. Stan Wright almost powered over but the referee adjudged that the ball was held up, but eventually Leinster's territorial dominance was rewarded when Ian Madigan released Berne whose vision found Kearney who stole in for his second try in the 35th minute.
Berne slotted home a superb conversion from the touchline to enable Leinster to regain the lead and the province went into the half-time interval with a slender 12-10 advantage.
Leinster started the second half with greater urgency and a Berne drop goal in the 47th minute extended the lead to five points.
A Madigan drop goal effort as the game entered the final quarter struck the upright as Leinster penned the hosts in their half and O'Donohoe's brave block down on the Chiefs 22 in the 70th minute caught the hosts' defence napping and the scrum-half raced through to score.
Berne expertly added his third successful kick of the afternoon to give Leinster an unassailable 22-10 lead as they maintained their excellent run of form in the competition.
*Leinster next face Newport in the British and Irish Cup in Donnybrook on Friday, 26th February.
Final Score Exeter Chiefs 10 Leinster 22
Scorers
Exeter Chiefs
S. Blythe, S. Marsden (1 try each)
Leinster :
D. Kearney (2 tries), P. O'Donohoe (1 try),
S. Berne (1 drop goal, 2 conversions)
Teams
EXETER CHIEFS: 15: Emyr Lewis , 14: Sean Marsden , 13: Tom Bedford (Nick Greenhalgh, 49) , 12: Matt Cornwell , 11: Paul McKenzie , 10: Danny Gray , 9: Richard Bolt
1: Ben Moon , 2: Sam Blythe (Saul Nelson, 59) , 3: Ruaidhrí Murphy (Shane Kingsland, 62) , 4: Sean Tomes , 5: Chris Bentley (Dave Ewers, 56) , 6: David Gannon (Dave Ewers, 34-41, blood) , 7: James Scaysbrook CAPTAIN , 8: Tom Johnson (Herbie Stupple, 71)
REPLACEMENTS NOT USED: Clive Stuart-Smith, Steve Jones
LEINSTER:15: Girvan Dempsey , 14: Niall Morris (Simon Keogh, 7) , 13: Eoin O'Malley , 12: Shaun Berne , 11: David Kearney , 10: Ian Madigan , 9: Paul O'Donohoe CAPTAIN (David Moore, 74)
1: Stan Wright , 2: Richardt Strauss (Jason Harris-Wright, 63) , 3: Mike Ross (Ronan McCormack, 57) , 4: Trevor Hogan , 5: Malcolm O'Kelly (Devin Toner, 57) , 6: Eoin Sheriff , 7: Paul Ryan , 8: Stephen Keogh (Ciaran Ruddock, 74)
REPLACEMENT NOT USED: Kyle Tonetti
EXETER YELLOW CARD: Matt Cornwell (25-35 mins)
ATTENDANCE: 3,505
REFEREE: Leighton Hodges (WRU) ,
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