Quick, top of the head – what's Leinster's Magners League position? Nah, not many in the RDS yesterday would have been able to tell you either. Joe Schmidt couldn't have asked for any more out of the past eight days than to wipe the opening few weeks of the season from the slate and this bonus-point jamboree was the perfect follow-up to last Saturday's arm-wrestle triumph over Munster. Five tries scored, just one conceded and the difference between a team playing their 98th Heineken Cup match and one playing their first laid cruelly bare.

The only cloud on the Leinster horizon was the hamstring injury which forced Brian O'Driscoll off midway through the second half. Even that turned out to be more of a worry for the future rather than the present – the scoreline stood at 26-19 when he was substituted but Leinster outscored the visitors 12-3 between then and the end and his replacement Fergus McFadden ran in the last of the five tries from halfway just as the game ticked dead.

All in all, the home side had enough about them to hand competition newcomers Racing a lesson. Although the French side can hand in a teamsheet that drips with star names, there was little enough evidence that there's much of an actual team in those blue and white hoops. They were unimaginative, bashing the Leinster line with solitary drives rather than putting together anything coherent.

In Sebastien Chabal, Sireli Bobo and Albert Vulivuli, they had obvious strike runners but after a while it was just too predictable. Add to that a procession of dropped passes, dumb penalties and downright incompetence at restart time and you had a team only asking to be tonked. "Yeah, I feel we contributed," was the wry verdict of their Kiwi coach Simon Mannix afterwards. "Contributed half of Leinster's points."

Half might be overstating it but not by much. After Isa Nacewa stroked over a simple penalty to cap a nip-and-tuck opening half-hour at 6-3 in Leinster's favour, Seán O'Brien took a fluffed restart kick untouched in the middle of the pitch. His strong run and offload sent hooker Richardt Strauss away and just like that, Leinster were on the Racing 22 and offloading at will. The excellent Mike Ross and Gordon D'Arcy got involved and in the end it was O'Brien who came thundering in to finish off his own work.

The second try was the best of them, a slick backline move off a line-out that was a universe away from anything Racing attempted all afternoon. Jonny Sexton – who played well, if understandably within himself at times and who left the kicking duties to Nacewa – fed O'Driscoll and then looped around behind him to collect a delicious pop-pass. Cutting left, he sent Rob Kearney away and the Leinster full-back had the strength and speed to finish. Although Nacewa missed the tough conversion, Leinster were 18-3 up now and cruising.

Another sleep-walking moment early in the second half left Strauss in for Leinster's third after Luke Fitzgerald made huge ground from a quick tap. In fairness, what Racing lacked in discipline and cohesion they had a decent go at making up for in effort. Francios Steyn and Jerome Fillol kept the scoreboard ticking over and by the time Vulivuli finally broke a tackle and got through on 56 minutes to score, they had hauled themselves back to 26-19.

But just seven minutes later, Jamie Heaslip eased off Isaac Boss's shoulder and crossed under the posts to wax the envelope. Next stop London.

LEINSTER R Kearney; I Nacewa, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, L Fitzgerald; J Sexton, E Reddan; H van der Merwe, R Strauss, M Ross; N Hines, D Toner; S O'Brien, S Jennings, J Heaslip Subs C Healy for Van der Merwe, 52 mins; F McFadden for O'Driscoll, 57 mins; I Boss for Reddan, 59 mins; D Ryan for Jennings, 66 mins; S Shawe for Ross, 72 mins; S Horgan for Sexton, 74 mins; J Harris-Wright for Strauss, 74 mins

Scorers O'Brien, Kearney, Strauss, Heaslip, McFadden, try each; Nacewa, 3 pens, 2 cons

RACING METRO F Steyn; S Bobo, A Vulivuli, A Masi, J Saubade; J Fillol, M Durand; A Lo Cicero, B Noirot, JP Orlandi; L Nallet, J Qovu Nailiko; J Leo'o, J Cronje, S Chabal Subs M Bergamsco Masi, 52 mins; A Battut for for Chabal, 52 mins; C Festuccia for Noirot, 57 mins; S Dellape for Naliko 58 mins; M Loree for Durand, 63 mins; J Brugnaut for Lo Cicero, 68 mins; S Zimmermann for Orlandi, 73 mins; R Vaquin for Leo'o, 75 mins

Scorers Vulivuli, try; Fillol, 3 pens, con; Steyn, 2 pens

Referee D Pearson (England)