Bath proceeded to dominate, and from a monopoly of possession they hit the front when Brendon Daniel, with room on the right, shrugged off O’Driscoll’s tackle for a try that raised the Rec.Although Barkley’s run came to an end with a couple of botched penalties, he kicked one in the 71st minute to make it 23-13, and Bath were still in Heineken Cup business. In the 76th minute Malone had a kick charged down by his opposite number and Holwell regathered to score at the posts: 23-20. In the 78th minute O’Driscoll, deep inside his own half, had a kick half- charged down but was able to hack on the rebound. When Matt Perry was caught close to his line, the ball was moved right, where there was such a huge overlap that the lock Malcolm O’Kelly was able to gallop over: 27-23.”If you judge us on results I’m very happy,” Declan Kidney, the Leinster coach, said. “If you judge us on our performance we have a huge amount of work to do I’m just delighted to be in the quarter-finals. We showed stickability and we might become a nuisance.”Bath: M Perry; J Maddock (J Scaysbrook, 40), A Crockett, O Barkley, B Daniel; C Malone, N Walsh; D Barnes, D Ward, D Bell (M Stevens, 60), S Borthwick (capt), D Grewcock, A Beattie, I Feaunati, M Lipman.Leinster: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy (F Contepomi, 75), D Hickie; D Holwell, G Easterby; R Corrigan (capt), S Byrne (R Nebbitt, 48), E Byrne, L Cullen (A McCullen, 52), M O’Kelly, E Miller, V Costello, S Jennings (C Potts, 67).Referee: J Jutge (France)..

There was more tension after the rout than before or during it as the Newport-Gwent Dragons scooped a maximum five points from a very one-sided match. But everything then hung on the outcome of the other Pool Five match between Perpignan and Newcastle, and when it was known that the French side had gleaned a late bonus point themselves it rather took the gloss off a magnificent performance by the Welsh club.The Dragons now travel to Newcastle next week knowing they have to pick up five points and rely on Edinburgh denying Perpignan a maximum haul.There was nothing in this match for Edinburgh. There were eight or nine absentees, including top points-scorer Chris Paterson. Even so they were still able to field seven players with international experience, but they did not have anyone to match the Dragons’ flanker Jamie Ringer.Time and again he fearlessly put his body on the line and it was his devastating break from halfway which set up an ideal position from which to score the fourth try that earned a bonus point.

That was scored by Luke Charteris, the 6ft 10in lock, who stole the subsequent Edinburgh line-out and flopped over the line on the half-hour.When Ringer was not tormenting Edinburgh, the full-back Percy Montgomery was ripping into them with telling counter-attacks or deep, heart-breaking kicks. Not even the loss of the right wing Nathan Brew in the 19th minute could knock the Dragons out of their stride. Their collective focus was such that Brew’s replacement Gareth Wyatt scored the third try within five minutes of coming on. He crossed for his second not long after the interval, by which time the Dragons were really smoking.The initial sparks came through the club captain Jason Forster, who had handed the on-field leadership over to the No 8 Michael Owen shortly before the kick-off.