Leinster puts Connacht to the sword once again as Glasgow goes top of URC

Leinster’s dominance of Connacht continued after they submitted their Irish rivals 50-5 in a one-sided romp in Galway.

A combined total of 25 players were missing because of the upcoming autumn internationals and injury, and it was the champions who responded better to the absentees to climb to second in the United Rugby Championship.

Leinster’s 14th successive victory – they have not lost at Dexcom Stadium since 2018 – looked assured soon after the half-hour mark when Todd Lawlor crossed for their third try to build a 21-5 lead.

Max Deegan was the next over in a hard-fought third quarter to register the bonus point, but in the final 20 minutes they cut loose.

Joey Carbery, Ciaran Mangan and Fintan Gunne touched down to compound a miserable night for Connacht, who were beaten in every department in the final URC outing before the break for Test action.

It was an impressive show of depth from Leinster in a win that derails Connacht’s recent progress under their English head coach Stuart Lancaster.

Meanwhile, Glasgow moved to the top of the United Rugby Championship after extending their unbeaten run to six games with a tense 29-20 victory over the Lions at Scotstoun.

The Warriors were missing 11 players to Scotland duty ahead of the autumn campaign – including Sione Tuipulotu and Kyle Steyn – and left it late to see off the Johannesburg-based team.

Fly-half Dan Lancaster returned to the Warriors line-up and he made a significant impact in the first half by crossing in the 31st minute.

Debutant Jack Singleton and wing Fergus Watson also touched down before the interval to build a 19-3 lead.

The Lions were the first to strike after the break when Morne van den Berg broke through and their impressive revival continued with tries by Siba Mahashe and Morne Brandon.

But Glasgow responded with a dynamic try from full-back Ollie Smith with George Horne landing an overtime penalty to deny the Lions a losing bonus point.