Leinster 43-7 Stade Francais: Irish province earn knockout spot by thumping Stade

James Lowe scored Leinster's first try at the Aviva Stadium

Leinster guaranteed their place in the Investec Champions Cup knockout stages as they hammered understrength Stade Francais 43-7 at the Aviva Stadium.

The home side were ragged early on at the Aviva Stadium before James Lowe ran in their opening try on 18 minutes.

Scores by Josh van der Flier and Dan Sheehan increased Leinster's lead to 17-0 by half-time in the Pool 4 game.

Jordan Larmour and Caelan Doris both notched two second-half tries with Joris Segonds replying late on.

Leinster went into the contest as huge favourites with Stade opting to rest the majority of their frontline players in order to concentrate on their Top 14 campaign, where they current sit third in the table.

In contrast, Leinster started with 11 of Ireland's World Cup squad in addition to having Ronan Kelleher, James Ryan and Jack Conan on the bench.

Despite that the visitors were able to frustrate Leinster early on as the home side didn't help themselves with handling and line-out inaccuracy.

Caelan Doris produced an impressive display for Leinster at the Aviva Stadium which included two second-half tries

However, Garry Ringrose's dart set up Lowe's 18th-minute score in the New Zealand-born Ireland wing's first game since the World Cup, with Ciaran Frawley adding the conversion.

Leinster then almost had a scare as Jamison Gibson-Park had to sprint back to prevent Kylan Hamdaoui notching a reply after a misdirected Frawley kick.

A typical Doris burst was finished off by flanker Van Der Flier diving over in the 30th minute before Ringrose's precise crosskick picked out hooker Sheehan to score in first-half injury-time.

Centre Ringrose produced more brilliance five minutes after the resumption with a sensational run from his own half, with Gibson-Park quickly recycling to find Larmour for the first of his two tries.

Doris added to Leinster's lead with a 47th score after Ryan Baird's rampaging run and was on target again in the 61st minute before Larmour also completed his double six minutes later.

Stade made frantic attempts to register a score in the final minutes and their pressure finally paid off in the last play of the contest as replacement Segonds ran in a score, with former Leicester player Zack Henry adding the extras.

Leinster's third straight Pool 4 win does not quite guarantee them a home tie in the last 16 but that is likely to be confirmed, possibly even before they face Leicester away next Saturday.

Leinster: Keenan; Larmour, Ringrose (capt), Henshaw, Lowe; Frawley, Gibson-Park; Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, McCarthy, Jenkins, Baird, Van der Flier, Doris.

Replacements: Kelleher, Healy, Ala'alatoa, Ryan, Conan, McGrath, Prendergast, O'Brien.

Stade Francais: Monin; Dakuwaqa, Ahmed, Nene, Hamdaoui; Henry, Weber; Castets, Peyresblanques, N'Diaye, Azagoh, Van der Mescht, Hirigoyen (capt), Chapuis, Habel-Kuffner.

Replacements: Meite, Kakovin, Alo-Emile, Tsutskiridze, Timo, Gimbert, Gabrillagues, Segonds.

Referee: Christophe Ridley (RFU)