Dublin University dominated from start to finish as they hammered Dolphin 44-3 at Irish Independent Park to make it five wins in-a-row in Ulster Bank League Division 1B.
This was a day to forget for Dolphin as they crashed back down to earth following last weekend's battling win over Buccaneers. The absence of the Munster-tied Rory Scannell was keenly felt by Feargus O'Donoghue's side.
Dublin University started this round 7 game in fine form, moving the ball comfortably through the phases. They stretched the home defence and gained an early penalty that out-half Jack McDermott converted.
The students continued to pressurise the Dolphin defence. From a quick penalty, nippy scrum half Angus Lloyd broke free before feeding centre Paddy Lavelle who passed for supporting flanker Brian du Toit to score by the posts.
Trinity followed this up with a second converted try. Off a loose ball from a lineout, McDermott glided through a yawning gap in the home defence before passing for centre Seb Fromm to touch down. A 17-point blitz in 15 minutes was a great start for the visitors.
Willed on by captain Chris Rowe, Dolphin then lifted their game and dominated possession and field position. It was vital they got a score or two to close the gap, but they only managed a penalty from Cian McGovern against an aggressive Trinity defence.
Into the second half, Trinity seized the initiative again and effectively killed off any chance of a Dolphin win with a series of well-constructed scores.
Lloyd broke up the right hand touchline, the ball was quickly moved the full width of the field with Lavelle giving a long cut-out pass to hooker Jack Boland, who straightened the attack and linked with German Sevens international Fromm who stepped inside the cover to score by the posts for a superb team try.
24-3 up, Trinity had little difficulty in securing their bonus point. After multiple phases, stand-in out-half Conor Kearns broke up the middle, the ball was moved quickly from left to right with du Toit combining with replacement centre Kingsley McGowan. He showed great hands to give winger Tim Maupin an easy run-in at the corner.
Tony Smeeth's youngsters scored two more tries as they showed no mercy to a deflated Dolphin outfit. Following seven phases , he ball was moved out to the left wing and then back to the right before a trailing Max McFarland outsprinted the flimsy defence to score out wide.
The final try was similar with prop Andy Keating and scrum half Brian Slater carrying strongly in the build-up. The ball was recycled quickly and McGowan again broke away to feed American international Maupin who scored in the corner. Kearns nonchalantly stroked over the conversion from the touchline with the final kick of a one-sided contest.
This was a much improved performance by the students, albeit against a weakened home team. Having played non-stop without a weekend off since August 24, including the World University Rugby Cup in Oxford, Smeeth's charges, who are just four points behind leaders St. Mary's, will enjoy a well-deserved break in league action until November 28.
Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU)