A near-flawless Leinster showed their class in securing a third bonus-point win in Pool A of the Heineken Champions Cup at Kingsholm at lunchtime on Saturday.

The seven tries flowed from Jordan Larmour, Michael Alaalatoa, Jamie Osborne, Caelan Doris,  Hugo Keenan, Josh van der Flier and Ronan Kelleher.

Leinster were quickly into stride, Alaalatoa getting into the clear from Caelan Doris’s fast hands.

Once in behind, Gloucester panicked enough to cough up a penalty which Ross Byrne sent to the corner.    

From there, James Ryan’s ball off the top was moved at pace for Larmour to go over unopposed, Byrne converting in the third minute. 

Then, Ryan Baird bulleted out of his 22 from a tremendous carry to drew a penalty. But, Gloucester’s hard-up defence caused a knock-on. 

Santiago Carreras’s angled ball put Leinster under pressure, Osborne and Keenan kicking clear and Garry Ringrose forcing Chris Harris into a spill.  

Quick ball enabled Leinster to move at speed, Jamie Osborne scything through to see Sebastian Atkinson binned.

From a 5-metre penalty, their creativity unhinged Gloucester for prop Alaalatoa to claim the second try, Byrne converting in the 12th minute.    

The Irish province’s commitment to play from everywhere came back to bite them when losing possession, Osborne cleaning up at the back. 

Their maul was disciplined and their defence of the line was accurate enough to hold Val Rapava-Ruskin up for a dropout.

The impetus of Osborne and a tackle-breaking burst by Baird took Leinster inside the 22 where they could not quite make the most of Doris’s carry.

In double quick time, Leinster were forced into a mistake and into defending a 5-metre lineout, Andrew Porter binned for the award of a penalty try in the 25th minute. 

Leinster simply stuck to their strategy, Osborne’s angle beating the first man and his step beating the second for Byrne to restore a 14-point gap they held until the clock turned red.

Still inclined to play, they came wide off a scrum, Osborne again making ground to earn a penalty. They tapped and drove for Doris to register the bonus-point try, Byrne’s extras taking them to 28-7 at the break.   

An arrow of a 50-22 kick by Byrne and a tumbling grubber from the out-half put Leinster straight onto the front-foot. 

Alaalatoa’s speed onto a loose ball triggered a counter, Ryan and Baird going beyond the gain line for Keenan to wondrously outmanoeuvre George Barton, Byrne converting in the 48th minute. 

Leinster turned the tables at the scrum and picked up penalties without the same clinical edge to make it count.  

The inability to deal with Gloucester’s maul from close range caused another penalty try and another yellow card, this time for Doris.  

A period of give-and-take was followed by a smart move to the front of a lineout, hooker Kelleher taking off up the left touchline to set in motion a series of drives ended by van der Flier’s dive to the line, converted by Harry Byrne. 

The temptation to ease up was not taken, Leinster looking for more tries, the backline forcing Carreras into a binning for knocking down the ball.

The lineout thrived again, the front five forwards clearing a path for Kelleher’s grounding, converted by Byrne, to have Leinster in seventh heaven.