Leinster Rugby flooded forward for a bonus-point win over Munster at Thomond Park, stretching their lead to 10 points at the head of the URC.

James Lowe doubled up in the performance with the second and fourth tries, along with two from Garry Ringrose and Jimmy O’Brien.

Leinster were quickly into their passing game from O’Brien’s counter, Robbie Henshaw improvising an overhead pass only for Lowe to kick out on the full.

When the home side came haring out of defence, O’Brien was textbook under Joey Carbery’s bomb, drawing another penalty at the ruck.

Garry Ringrose’s burst, Henshaw’s link, Ross Byrne’s delay of pass and a barrage of carries claimed another penalty on the 16th phase of play for Byrne to kick the visitors in front in the 10th minute.

It wasn’t long before Munster were hunting a response, Jack Conan putting a late tackle into Carbery for the concession of a penalty that the out-half slotted in the 13th minute.

The movement of O’Brien in behind the centres and onto a sweet ‘out the back’ ball from Ringrose opened the space up for Lowe, the wing’s offload taken on by Hugo Keenan.

From there, it was punchy work from the pick-and-go and Player of the Match Caelan Doris’ drive that earned a penalty advantage. Byrne turned it into the ultimate reward, whipping a ball left for Ringrose to stroll in unopposed in the 17th minute.

The high-flying take of Matt Gallagher and a bullish carry from Chris Cloete on the touchline were the starting points for quick ball and a strong carry from Gavin Coombes was backed-up by Carbery’s second penalty for 8-6 in the 22nd minute.

A feature of the first quarter was the fielding of receivers as both provinces appeared to take turns in going on the attack, Calvin Nash stopping Keenan in his tracks with a thumping tackle.

Munster’s discipline slipped again for Byrne to split the posts ahead of Doris taking too long to roll from a ruck for Carbery’s penalty from the 40-metre mark to make it 11-9 in the 28th minute.

An overcooked Carbery kick prompted a wide-to-wide attack, Lowe popping up on the left, which Munster dealt with well.

Carbery spied uncovered ground and a clever chip was just tipped away by Henshaw with Michael Ala’alatoa there to tidy up the loose ball.

Shane Daly’s neck roll made it six penalties against Munster but, soon after, O’Brien’s offload was a metre forward.

A terrific turnover by Josh van der Flier was not enough for a Leinster breakout and the Ireland flanker was whistled for a poaching knee on the ground for Munster to hit the front for the first time from Carbery’s penalty in the 37th minute.

A beautiful 50-22 kick from Keenan was neutralised by Niall Scannell and Peter O’Mahony holding up Devin Toner for a turnover at a maul formed from open play.

Munster were disrupted at the scrum and a collective counter-ruck provided one more chance for Byrne to make it 14-12 before the break.

The second half saw the visiting side flex their muscle a bit more.

They raided up the right through Keenan and O’Brien countered into traffic for simple passes, allowing Lowe to fend Niall Scannell, improvising to knee the ball forward only for Carbery to come to the rescue and clear.

The ball was moved meticulously infield before Leinster came back to the left for Lowe to carefully ground for 19-12 in the 48th minute.

Jamison Gibson-Park spun out of Daly’s contact and Fineen Wycherley’s late tackle on van der Flier allowed Byrne to add three points in the 56th minute.

They were greedy for more, Ringrose and Henshaw combining for Lowe to pause for a split-second before releasing O’Brien to slip inside Conor Murray and beyond Cloete for the third try.

The injection of energy and urgency from Craig Casey put Munster on the front foot for Damian De Allende to pick up a try from Ben Healy’s subtle timing of the pass, Healy also converting in the 64th minute.

But they wouldn’t get in again. Leinster’s final effort came when Dan Sheehan broke from a maul to go close and Byrne’s tactical kicking maintained the pressure.

Smart decisions on the ball and onto it made for lightning-fast ruck ball, O’Brien’s footwork mesmerising defenders and Byrne’s long wristy ball finding Lowe speeding to the line for the bonus-point in the 74th minute.