Treviso 24 Leinster 24
The physical aches and pains will probably pale when weighed against the mental anguish that the Leinster players will feel in the wake of a pretty abject performance.
The Irish province travelled to face a Benetton Treviso side that had just one league point to date this season and has scored eight tries in nine competitive games. They racked up four in one afternoon, and against the reigning champions to boot.
If the Italian side's fullback Jayden Hayward hadn't been so wayward with his place-kicking – the low point when he shoved wide a straight forward chance from 22 metres with three minutes left, one of several misses – then Leinster's embarrassment might have been even more acute.
They still had a chance to win the game but Jimmy Gopperth pushed his injury time drop goal wide from in front of the posts about 18 metres out. It was that sort of afternoon for the outhalf, who was also unusually imprecise in both his kicking and general game management.
Losing Luke Fitzgerald after the pre-game warm-up – he was replaced by Brendan Macken – was disruptive, so too the departure before halftime of hooker Richardt Strauss, both because of injury, but it doesn't mitigate the generally poor quality of the visitors' display.
Leinster coach Matt O’Connor admitted: “It was disappointing. We let ourselves down. We didn’t have a lot of ball in the second half and therefore couldn’t manage enough territory or possession.” He also went to lament some of his side’s exit strategies from their own 22.
On the injuries he explained: “Luke complained of a tight groin after the warm-up and it wasn’t worth taking the risk, while Richardt’s hamstring tightened up and so we didn’t want to take a chance with him either.”
Leinster were dominated in the scrum, conceding three penalties and a free kick, were outplayed at the breakdown for the most part, emphatically lost the kick-tennis exchanges and were woefully porous in defence. Treviso enjoyed more possession and territory, too.
The province conceded one try when Gopperth had a clearance kick charged down by Marco Barbini, who regathered to dot down, and another when Luke McGrath dithered at the base of a scrum five metres from his own line. His opposite number Alberto Lucchese pilfered the ball and flicked it away for Dean Budd to plunge over.
The homeside’s other two tries came from pretty rank Leinster defending, one down to an unholy trinity of missed tackles and the fourth when replacement Mick McGrath, who otherwise had a fine game on his introduction, was guilty of ball watching and racing out of the line, instead of drifting.
Yet the Irish side managed to match their hosts' four tries, through a brace from a sharp and effective Darragh Fanning and one apiece from Dave Kearney and replacement hooker Brian Byrne, the latter coming from a charge down and a 30-metre sprint to the line.
The arrival of Isaac Boss, Dominic Ryan and Mick McGrath had a positive effect on the team but not enough to salvage the victory. One Leinster player who stood out from the general morass was young number eight Jack Conan, whose carrying led to one try and whose ability to break tackles was a flickering light source on a dull afternoon.
Leinster’s facility to give up cheap scores within a matter of minutes of taking the lead was essentially a carelessness that cost them victory.
Scoring sequence
3 mins: Fanning try, 0-5; 13: Pratichetti try, Hayward conversion, 7-5; 26: Budd try, 12-5; 29: Kearney try, 12-10. Halftime: 12-10. 41: Byrne try, Gopperth conversion, 12-17; 50: Barbini try, Hayward conversion, 19-17; 68: Fanning try, Gopperth conversion, 19-24; 72: Giazzon try, 24-24.
Benetton Treviso: J Hayward; A Pratichetti, E Bacchin, S Christie, L Nitoglia, J Carlisle, A Lucchese; M Zanusso, D Giazzon, R Harden; T Vallejos, C van Zyl (capt); M Barbini, D Budd, M Luamanu. Replacements: L Auva'a for Luamanu 18 mins; M Fuser for van Zyl 63 mins; M Swanepoel for Barbini 63 mins; R Acosta for Harden 75 mins.
Leinster: Z Kirchner; D Fanning, B Macken, N Reid, D Kearney; J Gopperth, L McGrath; M Bent, R Strauss, T Furlong; T Denton, K Douglas; K McLaughlin (capt), J Murphy, J Conan. Replacements: B Byrne for Strauss 39 mins; D Ryan for Murphy 51 mins; I Boss for L McGrath 51 mins; M McGrath for Kirchner 51 mins; B Marshall for McLaughlin 63 mins, J Hagan for Furlong 70 mins.
Referee: Neil Paterson (Scotland)
