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Rampant Leinster thrash Wasps in Champions Cup opener
By Ben Spratt
Luke McGrath and James Lowe scored twice as Leinster began their European Champions Cup title defence with a 52-3 thrashing of Wasps.
The Irish province won the competition for the fourth time in May and they began their bid for an unprecedented fifth in style on Friday, earning a bonus-point home triumph.
Leinster were comfortable from start to finish, opening the scoring with Sean Cronin's early try and only seeing their progress checked by an 11th-minute penalty from Lima Sopoaga.
The next try did not come until McGrath crossed after the clock ticked past 40 in the opening period, but Leinster were rampant from then on as Lowe touched down two minutes after the restart.
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Watch: Man-of-the-match James Lowe on Leinster's win
McGrath went over once more and Lowe followed, before Jordan Larmour, Robbie Henshaw and Jack McGrath got tries in a sensational seven-minute spell to cap the scoring late on.
Leinster take on Toulouse on the road next, while Wasps will hope to bounce back at home to Bath.
Watch:Dai Young on Wasps' record European defeat
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Latest Comments
I'm a huge ABs fan. I think the game was messy but enjoyable to watch. The Italians really defended very well... To see ABs try different ways to break them during phase play was interesting to watch
Go to commentsMy bad, added missing words. Just saying so many injuries that it was a 23% win rate team for a lot of games.
And they'll be up around something like 70% next year which will see Penney get reappointed!
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