Gunne fires two as youthful Leinster hit their stride

■By PAUL HOLLY

LEINSTER returned to the newly refurbished Laya Arena in style by smashing eight tries past Zebre

Fintan Gunne scored a double, with Niall Smyth, Gus McCarthy, Josh Ericson, Cormac Foley, Josh Neill and Alan Spicer also on the scoresheet for the URC champions.

Tyro tighthead Smyth showed he has a big future and grabbed the opening try from close

range following a series of drives after Andrew Osborne’s had regathered a kick from Casper Gabriel.

Scrum-half Gunne grabbed the second try after Todd Lawlor had turned defence into attack with a run from deep in his own half. Gabriel’s conversion doubling the advantage.

Another period of pressure in the 22 allowed Gunne, below, to find hooker Gus McCarthy slicing through a gap. Gabriel converted for 21-0.

Zebre finally got on the board after a scrum in the right corner. Giovanni

Montemauri’s precise cross-field kick was taken by Simone Gesi on the opposite flank.

Gunne scored his second after neat work by Charlie Tector and a slick inside pass, and No.8 Ericson pounced for the fifth try with Gabriel converting both for a 35-5 half-time lead.

Leinster picked up where they had left off and Foley quickly added the sixth after more solid foward play. Tec-tor took over the kicking duties to

make it 42-5 in the 51st minute.

Gesi was Zebre’s standout player and he crossed for his second try, skipping out of a tackle and looping back under the posts to give Giovanni Montemauri a simple conversion.

Foley, switched from wing to nine, set up Neill to burrow over for a try, converted by the reintroduced Gabriel and Spicer touched the final try fro-ma dominat lineout following a penalty kicked deep.