Leinster recovered from their opening defeat by Edinburgh to annihilate their shell-shocked opponents.

The French side, conquerors of cup holders Northampton last weekend, had no answer to their powerful hosts and capitulated in the second half.

Leinster ran in four tries without reply and all Biarritz had to show for their efforts were three first half penalty goals.

Man-of-the-match Shane Horgan was the chief executor of their downfall.

He went over after just seven minutes, when sustained pressure from the Irish side carved open the visitors' defence.

Fly-half Eddie Hekenui missed the conversion, but made no mistake eight minutes later with a penalty goal to stretch Leinster's lead.

Laurent Mazas pulled back three points for Biarritz, but almost immediately Brian O'Driscoll finished off a move started by Horgan's run for try number two, and Hekenui's follow-up was spot on.

Blazing

Mazas added two more penalty goals to keep his side in the hunt at 15-9 going into the break, but it was to prove a brief respite.

After the interval, Leinster came out all guns blazing to score 20 poins without reply.

Dennis Hickie's drop goal signalled the start of the rout and it was followed by a try for left-wing Gordon Darcy and a second for the unstoppable Horgan - both converted by Hekenui.

To rub salt in the wounds replacement fly-half Mark McHugh added another penalty goal with the last kick of the match to put the seal on a memorable win.

"Losing to Edinburgh was a huge disappointment, but we have had some injury problems.

"I was very encouraged by this performance. I felt we were in control all the way, and all the guys, replacements included, played really well.

"I think we can look forward to the rest of the campaign with confidence, but that doesn't mean that we'll be taking anything for granted."