The Blues recovered well from the shock of falling behind to a Noel Reid breakaway ty after only 62 seconds and worked their way into a 13-5 interval lead thanks to close-range try from Italian back row international Manoa Vosawai and Gaeth Anscombe’s trusty boot.
But if losing Wales skipper Sam Warburton to a nasty cut eye after only 12 minutes was bad enough, things got worse when New Zealand lock Jarrad Hoeata was sent off after 32 minutes for a high tackle on Rob Kearney.
In the second half the Blues’ woes got worse when Vosawai picked up a yellow card. Leinster needed no second invitation to make the most of their numerical advantage and tries from Jimmy Gopperth, Luke McGrath and Tadhg Furlong pushed them towards a bonus point/
“There’s no doubt that red cards and yellow cards do cost you. Where it cost us was that we continued to play, and played probably the best brand of rugby so far, but when you turn ball over – and you’re down on numbers it is just danger time,” said Blues coach Mark Hammett.
“Unfortunately we did that and they ended up scoring a couple of quick tries, often against the run of play.”
Hammett confirmed that Warburton won; play against Rovigo in the European Rugby Champions Cup next weekend.
