Too close to call, we said.

There was a fifteen-minute spell in the fourth quarter when a smidgin of doubt hung over the result of this Champions Cup quarter-final but, all told, this was a far more comprehensive win for Leo Cullen’s Leinster than the bookies or most punters had expected, writes Brendan O’Brien.

Leinster claimed four of the six tries in a game that was high on entertainment. There were multiple aspects to the performance from the Irish province that will have made the rest of Europe sit up and take notice.

Well done, lads! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/lxquPXBc2L

— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) April 1, 2017

Next up for the three-time European champions is a semi-final in France against the winners of Sunday’s clash between Clermont Auvergne and Toulon and they will make the trip with the scalp of the English league leaders on their pelts.

Leinster dictated the script, hogging possession, rucking brilliantly and mixing their attacking game up with man of the match Joey Carbery stepping in as first receiver for Jonathan Sexton and some standout forward displays by the likes of Jack Conan and Dan Leavy.

Garry Ringrose, too, was sensational.

The first-half was just great craic. These two had scored over 200 tries between them already this season and that attacking thrust was evident in a 40-minute spell so exciting that it even went to some of the players’ heads.

Everyone was infected with the bug, or the drug, or whatever it was. Devin Toner attempted, and succeeded with, an offload in his own 22 at one stage and Tadhg Furlong executed a textbook skip pass off his left side.

Bonkers stuff.

Jonathan Sexton broke free into open prairie at another point, looked around, and whacked the ball into at least Row G of the Lower East Stand while Danny Cipriani and Richardt Strauss fired passes over the sideline at imaginary teammates.

Other mistakes were littered throughout a game that was played under splendid sunshine one minute and sheets of rain the next but the outbreaks of flair and the commitment to take chances by players on both sides made for a cracking spectacle.

Leinster had much the better of it and their first try came 16 minutes in when Leavy burst through the middle of the Wasps line and, two phases later, Carbery fired a skip pass out to the left wing, cutting out the visiting rearguard and allowing Isa Nacewa scoot over.

Sexton failed to add the two points on to that and the three he recorded with the opening penalty but the highlight reel kept on rolling with Sean O’Brien’s barrelling run up the field after a Conan half-break just one of the standouts.

Wasps were never less than dangerous and they should have had their first try after 24 minutes when Kurtley Beale broke free of the Leinster chase after a long Garryowen from Carbery and the Australian fed Willie Le Roux for a straightforward touch down.

Willie Le Roux will be kicking himself for this one! He lost control of the ball attempting a dramatic leap for the try line #LEIvWAS pic.twitter.com/mnyc2CGQjx

— sportsfile (@sportsfile) April 1, 2017

Or was it?

Replays clearly showed the South African wing losing control of the ball as he attempted to belly-flop over the end line. Mortifying. And costly. It took a Jimmy Gopperth penalty eight minutes later to open their account in a more routine fashion.

Leinster struck back within another two minutes.

This time it was Carbery fielding a loose high kick and the youngster combined brilliantly for a one-two of passes with Fergus McFadden down the Leinster right flank before finding the onrushing Conan who swung over in the corner.

Sexton added the conversion as the rain began to fall and then Wasps were hit with one more punch to the gut seconds before the interval when the two-time Heineken champions failed to control their own maul and the ball popped loose.

With Leinster in this form, it was like leaving raw meat out for a pride of lions.

It's all over at the @AVIVAStadium! Leinster finish strongly to beat Wasps 32-17! Next stop #ChampionsCup Semi-Final! #LEIvWAS pic.twitter.com/HNNPiJchiV

— sportsfile (@sportsfile) April 1, 2017

Leavy was on to it in a flash, scooping up and offloading in one smooth movement. O’Brien and Sexton continued the advance into the Wasps 22 before releasing Robbie Henshaw for the third try - and the second to be converted.

Up 22-3 at the break, another Sexton penalty nine minutes after the restart put Leinster more than three converted tries to the good before Wasps coach Dai Young went for broke by introducing a quartet of replacements at the same time with half an hour still to go.

One of them was the new hooker Ashley Johnson whose long but loose pass out to the right wing was picked off the floor by Christian Wade in acres of space. A nifty grubber and turn of foot later and the flying wing was past O’Brien and Luke McGrath and over for the try.

Disappointing but not disastrous.

More damage was inflicted eight minutes later when Gopperth sniped inside the shoulder of Ross Molony - who was only just on for Hayden Triggs - and wriggled past another four attempted tackles before dotting down against the club he represented for two seasons.

Brilliant from Gopperth but awful defending.

The Kiwi’s own conversion left it 25-17 with a full 20 minutes still to pass and, if Leinster dominated possession and territory for most of it, there was always the threat that Wasps could launch the sort of rapid-fire counter for which they are famous.

The separation the home side needed came in the 75th-minute, McFadden following Toner deep into the 22 and picking up the pill when the lock went to ground before firing himself over the line for a try converted again by Sexton.

Great value for money for a close-to-full Aviva.

Leinster: J Carbery; A Byrne, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, I Nacewa; J Sexton, L McGrath; J McGrath, R Strauss, T Furlong; D Toner, H Triggs; D Leavy, S O’Brien, J Conan.

Replacements; J van der Flier for Leavy (16-22 and for O’Brien 67); F McFadden for Byrne (22); C Healy for J McGrath (52); J Tracy for Strauss (55); R Molony for Triggs (59); J Gibson-Park for L McGrath (63); M Bent for Furlong (66); Z Kirchner for Carbery (79).

Wasps: K Beale; C Wade, E Daly, J Gopperth, W Le Roux; D Cipriani, D Robson; M Mullan, T Taylor, J Cooper-Woolley; J Launchbury, K Myall; J Haskell, T Young, N Hughes.

Replacements: A Johnson for Young, M Moore for Cooper-Woolley, M Symons for Myall and J Simpson for Robson (all 50); A Leiua for Cipriani (55); S McIntyre for Mullan (58); A Rieder for Hughes (77).

Referee: N Owens (WRU).