On one of those days when sport's status was more irrelevant than magnificent, Leinster maintained the Celtic League's only unbeaten record. They're fun to watch this season and by the end you could only enjoy.
Pre-eminence was duly established up front where the lineout excelled and Trevor Brennan is playing like a man possessed. Alongside him Malcolm O'Kelly has overcome his Lions' disappointment and looks in prime nick.
Though landing only five from 11, Nathan Spooner called the shots impressively and with Andy Dunne cutting his teeth Leinster haven't had it so good in their problem position of outhalf for years. Ditto openside with the emergence of Keith Gleeson, who again added to the continuity of this visionary team. Victor Costello made much of the earlier inroads before eventually it was the ever-classy Brian O'Driscoll, Denis Hickie and company who scorched the turf.
It all contrasted with the initial mood. A minute's silence was held in light of the day's events in the US, though so subdued was the below-par attendance that it made little difference to the noise level.
Leinster's low-key opening caught the atmosphere too. Brennan spilled Alex Lawson's kick-off, Costello broke prematurely and Lawson nailed the penalty. There followed a handling error, a couple of missed first-up tackles and Lawson hit the post with a second penalty attempt.
Gradually Leinster warmed to their task. Some sweetly-spiralled line-kicking by Spooner established position and a far superior lineout helped the pack establish ascendancy. Leinster then struck stealthily off their first two excursions with near carbon copy tries, each off O'Kelly's off-the-top lineout ball before Spooner fed Victor Costello going left to right and the number eight broke the initial line of defence for the supporting Spooner and O'Driscoll to score in turn.
Leinster began making things more difficult for themselves. Edickson began pinging them and Lawson added another penalty. Then Gareth Baber tapped a penalty to put Sonny Parker over for a try. A score of 12-11 may have reflected the action, if not the class divide.
Cue the inevitable Leinster riposte, Shane Horgan making a big incision this time for some brilliant support play by O'Driscoll and Girvan Dempsey. From the recycle, Costello's final pass wide out to Brennan failed to close out the deal though consolation came by way of a Spooner penalty, and another from 45 metres with the last kick of the half.
Leinster again took a while to crank it up after the break, responding to another Lawson penalty with a try from deep. Hickie's dancing counter-attack put them on the front foot off ruck ball, O'Driscoll's classic half break and Gleeson's classic link releasing Dempsey, and Brennan bust a gut to score from 20 metes out.
High quality pressure off O'Kelly's athletic take, O'Driscoll probing twice, culminated in Dempsey putting Hickie over in the corner on the hour. From the restart adventurous handling inside the 22 by Spooner, Gleeson and Dempsey released Hickie for a scorching 80-metre try.
More prosaically, Costello rumbled over off a close-in scrum, O'Driscoll adroitly hacked on Hickie's deft grubber for an opportunist try and with the subs' equally eager to don pyjamas Liam Toland took Adam Magro's offload to round it all off.
Scoring sequence: 2 mins: Lawson pen 0-3; 14 mins: Spooner try and con 7-3; 17 mins: O'Driscoll try 12-3; 31 mins: Lawson pen 12-6; 36 mins: Parker try 12-11; 39 mins: Spooner pen 15-11; 40 mins: Spooner pen 18-11; (half-time 18-11); 52 mins: Lawson pen 18-14 ; 54 mins: Brennan try 23-14; 60 mins: Hickie try 28-14; 62 mins: Hickie try, Spooner con 35-14; 69 mins: Costello try 40-14; 75 mins: O'Driscoll try 45-14; 80 mins: Toland try, Spooner con 50-14.
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; D Hickie, B O'Driscoll, S Horgan, G D'Arcy; N Spooner, B O'Meara; R Corrigan (capt) S Byrne, E Byrne, T Brennan, M O'Kelly, E Miller, V Costello, K Gleeson. Replacements: (temp) L Toland for Gleeson (28-37 mins and 71 mins), P McKenna for D'Arcy (61 mins), B Willis for O'Meara (67 mins), A McCullen for Miller (67 mins), G Hickie for S Byrne (71 mins), P Coyle for Corrigan (77 mins), A Magro for O'Driscoll (77 mins).
PONTYPRIDD: C Williams; G Wyatt, S Parker, J Colderley, D Feaunati; A Lawson, G Baber; S Senara, M Davies, D Bell, N Kelly, J Griffiths, D McIntosh (capt), M Owen, R Field. Replacements: G Jenkins for Sanara (51 mins), C Sweeney for Williams (56 mins), R Parks for Field (62 mins), S Cronk for Bell (63 mins), M Rees for Davies (70 mins).
Referee: R Dickson (Scotland).
