Leinster went up a couple of gears from their Round of 16 win over Leicester and outplayed La Rochelle in just about every department in front of an appreciative capacity crowd at the Aviva.
La Rochelle haven’t been great starters this season and after a long trip to Cape Town for the Round of 16 last week and then the even longer return journey to Ireland this week they were disastrously slow out of the blocks this time round.
Leinster, with so much revenge and beef in this game, were however in the zone and built their lead steadily with three first-half penalties from Ross Byrne who was striking the ball beautifully and two converted tries, although in truth Leinster also butchered a couple of other chances.
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