THE House of Pain was an apt choice of band as the Leinster crowd contently headed home. The Royal Dublin Society, nor Donnybrook or Lansdowne before it, has never been a happy hunting ground for Newport Gwent Dragons.

Last February they upset the odds for a stunning first win in the Irish capital but this time nobody in the away changing wanted to 'Jump Around' after normal service had been resumed.

The Dragons certainly aren't the only ones to suffer at the RDS – that surprise loss to the men from Rodney Parade is Leinster's only home defeat in any competition in over a year – but Saturday afternoon was a deflating occasion.

They were poor in so many facets of the game and absolutely shocking in defence; all four of the Irish province's tries will make uncomfortable viewing in the analysis suite.

The hope had been that the Dragons would come flying out of the blocks this season, making hay while others are more affected by World Cup call-ups.

But at the moment the Rodney Parade side look more affected by the absence of the few genuine international class players they have. They are suffering in the absence of genuine game-breakers Taulupe Faletau, Tyler Morgan and the now injured Hallam Amos.

Leinster were without 16 Ireland players and Springbok Zane Kirchner but still boasted by the most influential players on the park in full-back Isa Nacewa, centre Ben Te'o and back row forwards Rhys Ruddock and Josh van der Flier.

It has not been a good start to the season for the Dragons, who are being killed by their monstrous error count, and a dramatic improvement will be needed at Glasgow a week on Friday. One imagines there will be at least a handful of changes to the XV.

The navel-gazing hasn't quite hit the level surrounding Stuart Lancaster's England – and we are just three games into the campaign in which the schedule has thrown up tricky trips to Galway and Dublin – but they are capable of so much better.

Lyn Jones' side showed enough glimpses on opening night at Connacht to be reasonably optimistic and fairly content with a losing bonus but the last two games have been horrible.

They were shockingly wasteful when beating a depleted Zebre 13-0 and Leinster was even worse.

The tone was set when a set move in the first half that had clearly been well-honed on the training paddock saw the ball worked left to full-back Carl Meyer just outside the 22 and he mystifyingly dropped the ball under no pressure.

There were some good flashes from new boys Ed Jackson and Adam Warren but the Dragons lacked control from half-backs Sarel Pretorius and Jason Tovey, they had precious little breakdown menace and their defence seemed hesitant and porous.

Yet they were actually in a good position after a quarter of the game thanks to the decision, when trailing 6-3, to go to the corner rather than the posts.

The forwards were denied from the driving lineout but for once the ball retention was good and after a number of charges at the line it was Pretorius who burrowed over. Tovey made it 10-6 but it was downhill from there.

Leinster were swiftly back in front thanks to a catalogue of errors by the visitors; Rynard Landman knocked lineout ball on just outside his 22, van der Flier was given an age to gather scrappy ball then waved through the 10 channel then rapid ball saw a peach of a pass by centre Noel Reid put ageless Nacewa over down the right.

And the Fijian went over for his second to make it 20-10 just before the break, once again making the Dragons pay for sloppiness.

Backs were turned on a penalty just outside the Leinster 22, allowing powerhouse centre Ben Te'o to go on the rampage from a quick tap before releasing Reid, who chipped through. Wing Tom Prydie won the foot race but couldn't gather the ball with Nacewa flopping on it over the line.

Some desperate last-ditch defending by wing Ashton Hewitt prevented the hosts from stretching further away through his opposite number Garry Ringrose early in the second half and there looked to be some life in the Dragons when they hammered away at the line before settling for a Tovey three-pointer to make it 23-13 entering the final quarter.

However, a pair of quickfire tries, both of them soft, ended the game with 68 minutes gone.

Leinster had been putting the squeeze on with a series of five-metre scrums when the ball came loose but Pretorius, who had a whopping error count, mystifyingly tried to offload the ball to Meyer rather than falling on it. He made a mess of it and the gifted possession allowed Ringrose to go over unchallenged.

Then straight from the restart replacement flanker Daniel Leavy and Te'o were given the freedom of the RDS before diminutive fly-half Cathal Marsh was allowed to smash over.

Glasgow, like Leinster, will be missing a whopping World Cup contingent next weekend but that is an irrelevance to the Dragons. They just need to get their own house in order.

Leinster: I Nacewa (captain), F McFadden (C Kelleher 34-37), B Te'o, N Reid (R Byrne 68), G Ringrose, C Marsh (C Kelleher 76), I Boss (L McGrath 60), M Bent (P Dooley 51), A Dundon (J Tracy 60), M Moore (J Hagan 23), R Molony, M McCarthy (T Beirne 69), D Ryan (D Leavy 62), J van der Flier, R Ruddock.

Scorers: tries – I Nacewa (2), G Ringrose, C Marsh; conversions – F McFadden (3), I Nacewa; penalties – F McFadden (3)

Dragons: C Meyer, A Hewitt, R Wardle (A Brew 40), A Warren, T Prydie (A O'Brien 48), J Tovey, S Pretorius (L Jones 67), B Stankovich (P Price 53-62, 67), H Gustafson (E Dee 53), B Harris (S Knight 62), N Crosswell, R Landman (captain), J Thomas (M Screech 40), J Benjamin (N Cudd 53), E Jackson.

Scorers: try – S Pretorius; conversion – J Tovey; penalties – J Tovey (2)

Referee: Ian Davies (Wales)

Attendance: 10,480 (tickets sold)

Argus star man: Ed Jackson