Poor Italians do Madigan’s hopes of making step up no favours

Leinster 40 Treviso 5

Leinster coach Joe Schmidt thought his out-half put his hand up but sounded a note of caution that doing it against Treviso was an entirely different proposition to performing on the international stage.

“I thought he kicked pretty well again and he ran the game really well. I thought he pierced the line on attack which we know is one of his strengths but I thought his passing game was really assured as well,” he said.

Madigan’s willingness to stake a claim was made early. Leinster went for the jugular and opted for the corners rather than the posts with penalties.

Presented with a kick on halfway after seven minutes, Madigan risked going for a long touch-finder and nailed it, giving Leinster a 15-metre lineout from which Dominic Ryan got over for the first of his three tries. That set the tone and by the 27th minute the bonus point was safe.

Fitzgerald’s break set up Sean Cronin for the first of his brace, then Ryan rumbled over off another lineoutbefore a break by centre Andrew Goodman created the opening for Cronin to get their fourth.

Madigan converted them all bar the first and with Leinster leading 26-0 at the break, they inevitably they took their foot off the gas.

Ryan got another try off a lineout after the restart, while Ludovico Nitoglia got a consolation effort for Treviso — a score that signalled the emptying of both benches.

Leinster finished on a high when Leo Auv’a got over for their sixth try 11 minutes from the end.

Scorers for Leinster: Tries: D Ryan (3), S Cronin (2), L Auv’a. Cons: I Madigan (4), F McFadden.

Scorer for Treviso: Try: L Nitoglia.

Leinster: L Fitzgerald; D Kearney, E O’Malley (F Carr 54), A Goodman (N Reid 54), F McFadden; I Madigan (I Boss 65), E Reddan; J McGrath (J O’Connell 65), S Cronin (A Dundon 73), J Hagan (M Bent 56); B Marshall (L Cullen 54), D Toner; R Ruddock, D Ryan, J Murphy (L Auv’a 56).

Treviso: G Toniolatti (B Williams 56); L Nitoglia, A Pratichetti (C Loamanu 58,), D La Grange, T Iannone; J Ambrosini, F Semenzato; M Rizzo (I Fernandex-Rouyet 65), G Maistri, J Roux (P Di Santo 65); M Fuser (F Giusti 33), C Van Zyl; D Budd, V Bernabo (F Sbaraglini 65), M Vosawai.

Referee: L Hodges (WRU).