Leinster records sum up opposition

European Cup/Leinster - 92 Bourgoin - 17: As Leinster walked off at half-time after garnering the quickest bonus point of the Heineken European Cup this season and a 36-7 lead, David Holwell, having just missed a touchline conversion - his only blemish out of 10 kicks at goal - could be seen shaking his head. Following the record rout, coach Declan Kidney bemoaned almost conceding a bonus point in tries. Leinster were struggling to find much to complain about.

In the circumstances, Leinster actually stuck to their task pretty well.

The danger in a fixture such as this when the bonus point and all other issues are decided by the half-hour mark is the game itself, and even the dominant team, loses its shape and focus. There were bouts of tag or sevens-style rugby along the way, but the 13 try, 92-point haul was testimony to Leinster's professionalism and concentration, as well as a potency amongst their back line glitterati which is second to none in Europe.

The records tumbled. For starters, the 92-point haul, 75-point winning margin and 13 tries all eclipsed Leinster's previous landmarks of two seasons ago at Swansea when scoring eight tries in a 51-10 win. In addition, Holwell filled his boots with eight out of nine conversions, a penalty and a brace of tries for a tally of 29 points to eclipse the previous best individual haul of 27 points by Mark McHugh against Leicester five seasons ago.

There were also hat-tricks of tries for Felipe Contepomi and Shane Horgan (taking his tally to five in three European games), thereby equalling the achievements of Gordon D'Arcy and Denis Hickie in that aforementioned Swansea win; D'Arcy also scored three against Northampton four years ago.

Of course much of this was devalued by Bourgoin's lack of stomach for the fight. Leinster strove to keep a sense of structure in what they were doing, never resorting to attempting 80-metre tries from inside their own 22 even after the flurry of three tries at the start of the second-half.

To begin with, Leinster got their basics right, their first two tries from Eric Miller (continuing his rich vein of form with the first of many big plays) and Contepomi originating from a strong lineout maul and a rock-solid scrum. With a constant stream of go-forward ball, Holwell, Contepomi and Brian O'Driscoll tore a half-hearted defence to shreds with their sleight of hand, angles of running and support play.

It was remarkable to think a player of the Puma's ability was only in the starting line-up because of an injury to D'Arcy, and on his belated European debut virtually everything he did was class while Horgan, whose hard-running and offloads in the tackle also set up another couple, was almost uncontainable. Ten of the tries came from backs, and there was one each for the back row.

The pick was arguably the fourth, initiated by Hickie's counter-attack on one wing, and finished off on the other by Contepomi after cleverly delayed passes by Reggie Corrigan and Malcolm O'Kelly. The moment of the game was perhaps the under-arm, left-handed offload in the tackle by O'Driscoll, executed with a remarkably soft touch, which released Holwell for him in turn to put Horgan over with a floated inside pass.

Admittedly most faded in a blur of sameness, as long before the end merely one line break or broken tackle would see the ball-carrier score himself or take the last tackle and offload to a support runner. The amount of times up to 14 Bourgoin players went hiding from the cameras or the last isolated defender - usually the unfortunate full back David Janin - was shameful.

Their South African centre Grant Esterhuizen revealed afterwards that Saturday's team only had one run-out together. Admitting their performance was "a disgrace", like most foreigners drafted in to French club rugby he was bemused by their contrasting mentality away from home.

Certainly, the 34-0 defeat at home to Treviso makes more sense now. The French club's dilettante attitude was summed up by the sight of their coach Laurent Seigne not even going into the dressing-room at half-time. In theory, they will have even less to play for next week but Seigne's team selection this week will signify their intent.

It could be their pride has been stung, that they will feel they owe their supporters a better performance, and all the more so with O'Driscoll and co in town. Like most French sides, they play with pride for their parish, but often only when they're in their own parish, and Bourgoin have won seven out of seven at the Stade Pierre Rajon.

Six seasons ago, Toulouse beat Ebbw Vale by 108-16, the tournament record, yet a few weeks later the Welsh club won the return fixture 19-11. Leinster have far too much ability to allow such a turnaround but, depending on Bourgoin's attitude, it could conceivably be unimaginably tougher than this was. That wouldn't be difficult.

Scoring sequence: 3 mins: Holwell pen 3-0; Miller try, Holwell con 10-0; 13: Contepomi try, Holwell con 17-0; 16: Soucaze try, Peclier con 17-7; 18: Holwell try and con 24-7; 29: Contepomi try, Holwell con 31-7; 40: Costello try 36-7; (half-time 36-7); 42: Horgan try, Holwell con 43-7; 44: Horgan try, Holwell con 50-7; 49: Contepomi try, Holwell con 57-7; 56: Holwell try and con 64-7; 60: Bontinck try 64-12; 62: Hickie try, Contepomi con 71-12; 67: Jennings try, O'Meara con 78-12; 69: Gissing try, O'Meara con 85-12; 74: Forest try 85-17; 77: Brown try, Contepomi con 92-17.

LEINSTER: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, F Contepomi, D Hickie; D Holwell; G Easterby; R Corrigan (capt), S Byrne, E Byrne, L Cullen, M O'Kelly, E Miller, V Costello, S Jennings. Replacements: B Gissing for Cullen (half-time), R Nebbett for Corrigan, D Blaney for S Byrne,, D Dillon for O'Kelly, B O'Meara for Holwell (all 61 mins), G Brown for O'Driscoll (63 mins), C Potts for S Horgan (77 mins).

BOURGOIN: D Janin; L Soucase, G Esterhuizen, A Peclier, J-F Coux; F Gengenbacher, M Albina; J Castex, W Bonet, F Pucciariello, A Mazel, P Pape, A Driollet, M-A Ruiz, J Bonnaire. Replacements: N Bontinck for Ruiz (half-time), A Forest for Coux (54 mins), F Montagnat for Pucciarello, R Bouyoud for Castex (both 72 mins).

Referee: Hugh Watkins (WRU).