Leinster's second half blitz of the Bulls gears them up for the Tigers in Europe by stretching their lead at the top of the URC.

Leo Cullen's side trailed 14-12 at the end of an ultra-physical first half at the RDS as their scrum came under all sorts of pressure plus the loss of skipper Luke McGrath to a HIA and a yellow card.

But, with a number of Six Nations winners returning to the fold, a searing five-try salvo after the break allied with some stout defending saw the Blues home against their nearest challengers in the table in front of the entertained 16,892 attendance.

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With their 11th win of the URC season secured, their focus will quickly turn to hosting Leicester in the Champions Cup last 16 at the Aviva Stadium next Saturday.

"Overall, it's a great win for us," said Cullen. "Bulls have been going well and have a lot of quality and picked a very strong team.

"You could see them at different stages, how different they are, in lots of ways.

"They have a lot of power, a strong kicking game and a good bit of speed as well.

"When you see when they catch you on the break, they're very dangerous and some of the individuals they have, the ability to step and you've seen them at international level as well. They have some serious quality.

"It was a proper arm-wrestle at the start. Bulls, very physical team, took us on at the scrum, they won a couple of scrum penalties at the start.

"It was pleasing how we responded to that though, we were able to drive them off their ball and suddenly we changed that picture, which you have to be able to do. I thought the guys adapted to that well.

"To get a win, when you play first and second, you're trying to maximise the points. To get five for us and none for them, that's perfect world. We're pleased with the outcome."

Predictably, the Bulls came to dominate at set-piece and made life difficult for Leinster's second string scrum - initially, at least.

Cian Healy and Michael Ala'alatoa - twice - coughed up penalties in the opening 12 minutes.

Johann Goosen kicked the Bulls ahead from the second one.

Leinster fell further behind when Healy played the ball in the ruck, conceding another penalty on halfway, and Goosen split the posts.

It was an uninspired start but they steamed back into it with a searing counter-attack on 18 minutes.

Jack Conan fed Jordan Larmour, whose scintillating run had the visitors in trouble. He off-loaded to Jamie Osborne and Josh van der Flier was sent clear.

The flanker crashed into the upright as he was tackled but managed to dot down.

When Ala'alatoa won a scrum penalty it added to the feeling that Leinster had woken up - even more so when Kelleher finished a lineout drive, with Byrne just off target with the extras.

But Cullen's side shot themselves in the foot five minutes from the break when Goosen stepped inside Conan and released Kurt-Lee Arendse.

The fast-paced World Cup winner wasn't going to be stopped and McGrath caught him high as he scored. The scrum-half went off for a HIA just before receiving a yellow card.

Larmour moved to scrum-half and Leinster did well to deny the Bulls a second try, but Kelleher coughed up a penalty that Goosen slotted to hand the visitors a two-point advantage at the break.

Despite still being a man down, however, it was the hosts who came out firing at the restart.

First Lowe finished a superb move in the 45th minute, racing onto Joe McCarthy's off-load after Larmour did well to keep the move alive.

Byrne converted and, a matter of moments later - and with Jamison Gibson-Park on for McGrath - replacement loosehead Michael Milne grabbed the try bonus point as he finished a backline move.

Byrne's conversion moved Leinster 12 points clear before the Bulls twice took wrong options as the try line beckoned that ultimately cost them dearly.

Dan Sheehan dived in at the corner in the 64th minute and Ross Byrne nailed a superb conversion before Conan also helped himself to a try.

To compound the visitors' misery, Arendse's 73rd minute consolation was also chalked off and Liam Turner raced in for Leinster's seventh and last five-pointer to complete the rout.

Leinster: Larmour, Russell, Henshaw (Turner 50), Osborne, Lowe, H Byrne (R Byrne 54), McGrath (Gibson-Park 45); Healy (Milne 46), Kelleher (Sheehan 46), Ala'alatoa (Furlong 46), Molony (Jenkins 46), McCarthy, Baird, van der Flier (Doris 67), Conan.

Bulls: Le Roux, Arendse, Moodie, Kriel, Williams (Vorster 50), Goosen (Smith 66), Embrose; Steenekamp (Matanzima 61), Papier (Burger 66), van der Merwe (Grobbelaar 51), W Louw, Vermaak (Ludwig 61), Nortje, van Staden (Gumede 20), E Louw.

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