There was strong evidence of a leap in the standard of Irish underage rugby in this free-flowing, high octane meeting in which the Leinster under-20s emerged victorious with something to spare at Donnybrook last night.

Leinster have endured a tough pre-season period and have played two games already in this competition, and it paid off last night. Tries from Shane Moore, Stephen Walsh and Andy Dunne got them to the break 19-5 ahead. Mark McHugh kicked two of the three conversions, while the Exiles' only reply came from scrum-half, Jim Ferris.

Perhaps, the most pleasing aspect of the game was the ongoing development of Ferris and former Newbridge College player, Jordan Murphy.

The second half went to plan for Leinster. Tries for Simon Keogh, Peter Shanley, and McHugh (two) killed off the Exiles.

Leinster: (UCD unless stated): B McMahon; S Keogh (Old Belvedere), M McHugh (Dublin University), S Moore, N Ross (Blackrock College); A Dunne, R Quigley; R Maybury (Greystones), D Blaney, N Treston, B Casey (both Blackrock), J Duffy, C Leyden, S Walsh (Old Belvedere), D Dillon. Replacements: S Kelly (Blackrock) for Moore, 45 mins; J Goodwin (Old Belvedere) for Quigley, P Shanley for Walsh, both 58 mins; N Foxe for Maybury, Barry Powell (Lansdowne) for Blaney, A Kearney for Leyden, all 72 mins.

Exiles: J Murphy; K McCormac, E Binham, B Leigh, I McMullen; S Flynn, J Ferris; M O'Keeffe, D O'Keeffe, J Smith, L McGowan, C Short, R Carr, J Barfoot, M Swift. Replacements: A Flavin for D O'Keeffe, A Sheridan for McGowan, both half-time; K Power for M O'Keeffe, 54 mins.

Referee: A Rowe (CRA).