Zebre 31-48 Leinster: Dave Kearney stars with hat-trick as province win again

Kearney put on an exhibition of finishing as Leinster racked up the points

Dave Kearney helped himself to a hat-trick as Leinster added another five points to their tally with a seven-try win over Zebre.

Dan Sheehan crossed twice with Cian Kelleher and Luke McGrath also scoring for the Conference A champions-elect.

A spirited Zebre grabbed three second-half tries, one short of a losing bonus point.

Leinster end their regular season against Ospreys next week before turning to the final on 27 March.

Having already secured their place in a fourth consecutive final, the pressure was well and truly off Leinster in Italy - not that pressure has got the better of the province too often in the Pro14.

They were well on their way to a 14th league win of the season even before wing Kearney grabbed the first of his three tries on the stroke of half-time.

Sheehan sniped over and Kelleher applied a simple finish to assume control of the game after a bright Zebre start, before scrum-half McGrath hammered home Leinster's dominance.

Despite never looking likely to win the game, Zebre showed some impressive fight in the second half with Giovanni D'Onofrio grabbing their first shortly after the interval.

From then the contest was dominated by the wonderful finishing of Kearney, with the 31-year-old relishing the role of experienced head in a young side to apply the finishing touches to some exceptional moves.

Having secured the bonus point before half-time, Sheehan crossed from the back of the maul before Kearney finished in the corner from Harry Byrne's excellent long pass, with his third try coming shortly after.

Eduardo Bello and Niccolo Taddia added late second half scores to push Zebre beyond the 30-point mark, but by then the game was long gone.

Zebre: Di Giulio; Bruno, Elliott, Lucchin, D'Onofrio; Rizzi, Renton; Buonfiglio, Ceciliani, Nocera; Kearney, Nagle; Bianchi, Leavasa, Giammarioli.

Replacements: Taddia, Tarus, Bello, Ortis, Krumov, Casilo, Palazzani, Masselli.

Leinster: O'Reilly; Kelleher, O'Brien, O'Loughlin, Kearney; H Byrne, McGrath; Dooley, Sheehan, Clarkson; Molony, Dunne; Murphy, Penny, Soroka.

Replacements: Tracy, Hanan, Bent, Toner, S O'Brien, O'Sullivan, Corkery, Osborne

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