Pro14: Leinster 31-7 Edinburgh

Johnny Sexton celebrated his 150th Leinster appearance with the bonus-point try as Edinburgh were swept aside in Dublin.

The Ireland fly-half also kicked three conversions, with Fergus McFadden, James Lowe, Jordan Larmour and Garry Ringrose touching down for the hosts.

A Magnus Bradbury try reduced the deficit to 12-7 after the interval.

But Edinburgh, who lost Pierre Schoeman to a late red card, were seldom in the contest.

The visitors brought a weakened squad into the back yard of the Pro14 and European champions who, by contrast, had many of their heaviest hitters in from the start and some more heavies on the bench in case of emergencies.

It opened up eventually, but it was a gruntathon in the beginning. Leinster would stick it up the jumper and plough on through 30 phases, then Edinburgh would win it back and do exactly the same.

It was tight and conservative and pretty ugly. To get an angle on what was going on out there, Leinster had a whopping 86 tackles (largely from Edinburgh pick-and-go's) after just 21 minutes. The outstanding Cian Healy had made 12 of them.

By then, Leinster had taken advantage of a major error from Edinburgh, Sean Kennedy having his clearing kick charged down by big Devin Toner, Leinster's human lighthouse.

Toner ran on to gather and Leinster worked McFadden in at the corner, a try that Sexton converted.

The physical grind carried on until Leinster finally gave the ball some air off a set-play, Toner finding Luke McGrath on a loop play before Larmour threw one out the side door to Lowe who score.

Twelve points down at the break, Edinburgh had only one option now. They needed to bring some risk to their game, some tempo that might shake the champions and give them something to think about.

They managed it early in the new half when Kennedy, Duhan van der Merwe and Chris Dean gave Edinburgh a platform that eventually saw Bradbury reaching out and scoring.

The conversion was good, but that served as a wake-up call for Leinster, who motored away from there. Lowe looked to be in for a second try, but it was called back for a forward pass.

Two minutes later, they scored for real. Their scrum had become dominant and that was the springboard for Larmour to step off his right foot to beat Van der Merwe before stepping off his right foot again to beat Dean.

In he went and over the conversion went for a 19-7 lead. At that point, the only question that needed answering was how bad a beating was this going to be for Edinburgh.

They got pinned back again soon after and Sexton dummied his way over for Leinster's fourth try. The star fly-half banged over the extras before strolling off to warm applause.

Edinburgh did not need any more misery to befall them, but befall them it did when Schoeman was red-carded for taking the ball into contact and leading with his forearm into the jaw of Dan Leavy. Red was the obvious and correct call.

The visitors conceded again two minutes before the end. Banging away forlornly in Leinster's 22, they coughed it up and McFadden came thundering out of defence, linked with Ringrose who ran away to complete the rout.

Leinster: Larmour, McFadden, Ringrose, Henshaw, Lowe, Sexton, L. McGrath, Healy, Tracy, Bent, Toner, Ryan, Deegan, Van der Flier, Conan.

Replacements: Tomane for Henshaw (69), R. Byrne for Sexton (66), Gibson-Park for L. McGrath (66), Dooley for Healy (66), Cronin for Tracy (49), Furlong for Bent (49), Leavy for Deegan (66). Not used: M. Kearney.

Edinburgh: Fife, Farndale, Dean, Socino, Van Der Merwe, Van Der Walt, Kennedy, Dell, Ford, Berghan, McKenzie, Toolis, Hamilton, Ritchie, Bradbury.

Replacements: Johnstone for Dean (69), Hickey for Van Der Walt (60), Fowles for Kennedy (49), Schoeman for Dell (49), Cherry for Ford (56), McCallum for Berghan (49), Crosbie for Bradbury (66). Not used: Hunter-Hill. Sent off: Schoeman (71).

Referee: Daniel Jones (Wales).