Much is expected of Leinster’s new All Black recruit signing Jordie Barrett but it was the Irish province’s young home-reared fly-half Sam Prendergast who stole the show in the chilly west country on Sunday night. Prendergast has already made his mark at Test level this autumn and did so again at Bristol’s expense as the visitors pulled away to a significant bonus point victory in Pool 2.

While Barrett also made a positive early impression on his Leinster debut, scoring one try and creating another, it was the 21-year-old Prendergast who inflicted the most scoreboard damage with two sharp tries and an overall bag of 20 points. It also added up to further disappointment for English sides on an opening weekend that has seen six losses for Premiership teams and just two wins.

There was certainly a clear winner on the night in the battle between Bristol’s attacking brilliance and Leinster’s defensive solidity. The visitors, briefly down to 13 men in the first half, won the second half 28-5 and their star-studded bench made a visible difference, with the giant Springbok RG Snyman breaking clear to set up Prendergast for his second try.

The young fly-half has more than a hint of Johnny Sexton about him and both his tries were nicely taken. The first came from a Sexton-style loop and dagger-like incision following Barrett’s first receiver pass while the second allowed him to display a good turn of pace from a long way out to secure the bonus point. Barrett, cutting in on a sharp angle for his score, also looked instantly at home in his new northern hemisphere habitat.

Cold and blustery with some rain in the air, however, it was not the ideal night for Bristol’s deft offloading game. It did not help their cause, either, when their tactical lynchpin AJ MacGinty was led groggily away after just four minutes following a heavy midfield tackle by Garry Ringrose and the centre Benhard Janse Van Rensburg shifted permanently inside to 10.

It was Leinster, though, who had to weather most of the early pressure, tested both by the Bears’ fast-paced handling and collective appetite for work. Their penalty count was also mounting up and was about to cost them dear. First Rónan Kelleher was yellow carded for dragging down a driving maul close to his own line and two minutes later Max Deegan followed him to the bin for a little trip on Harry Thacker as the Bristol hooker was threatening to make a try-creating break.

The Bears were further encouraged when Max Lahiff was driven over from short range and Van Rensburg coolly slotted the conversion. Any hopes of creating havoc against 13-man opposition, however, were swiftly dashed when Leinster stole the restart and the ball then bobbled away from the home full-back Rich Lane to allow Jordan Larmour to nip in and steal a try back immediately.

It made it 7-7 at half-time but not before Ellis Genge had crunched Prendergast hard and fractionally late enough to welcome the young fly-half to the tougher side of Bristolian culture. If the idea was to throw the youngster off his game, however, it was to prove a conspicuous failure.

Leinster were also unfazed by a curious start to the second half when the referee Craig Evans lost patience with the scrummaging of both sides and sent both Lahiff and the newly-arrived Andrew Porter to the bin. It mattered not as the Dublin equivalent of the ‘bomb squad’, also including Snyman and Ireland’s captain Caelan Doris, took a firm grip on proceedings and completely changed the complexion of the game.

In addition to Prendergast and Barrett, there was also a place on the scoresheet for Josh van der Flier with a try in response from Gabriel Ibitoye a case of far too little too late. Leinster, at home to Clermont Auvergne next weekend, are now exactly where they want to be in pursuit of a title that has narrowly eluded them for the past three seasons.

Bristol were at least able to unveil their new women’s signing Ilona Maher, who was paraded to the crowd at the interval and will hopefully make her English club debut in more benign conditions in the new year. Winter rugby has its attractions but chilly late Sunday kick-offs in December definitely separate true believers from casual floating voters.