Leinster weather Treviso challenge

FT Treviso 9 Leinster 25

Leinster weathered a determined Treviso challenge as tries from Ireland internationals Shane Byrne, Shane Horgan and Brian O’Driscoll helped them to a 25-9 Heineken Cup Pool 2 win.

The Italians, unbeaten in eight home championship ties this season at the Stadio Comunale di Monigo, battled bravely for over an hour but Horgan’s well-taken 59th-minute effort finally saw Leinster move a converted score clear.

The visitors, who had lock Malcolm O’Kelly sin-binned in the second half, put the icing on the cake in injury time as O’Driscoll sprinted over, but Craig Green’s side provided stiff opposition with Marius Goosen kicking all of their points.

Having lost regular full-back Girvan Dempsey to a late stomach bug, Leinster looked ill at ease in the early stages and shipped an early penalty to Treviso centre Goosen.

South Africa international Gerhard Klerck nearly breached the visitors’ line in the seventh minute but his fellow Springbok Goosen picked up the pieces with a well-slotted second penalty.

An intentional knock-on from Horgan handed the former Pumas skipper another shot at the posts but his 11th-minute effort fell wide in muggy conditions.

Leinster gradually crept into the game and Heineken Cup debutant David Holwell punished Treviso for a silly offside in the 16th minute by converting a penalty.

The ageless Victor Costello, one of three current players to start Leinster’s first European visit to Italy in 1995, gifted Holwell the leveller seven minutes later as he shunted Silvio Orlando backwards.

An 11-6 half-time lead was Leinster’s as 33-year-old Byrne, supported by flanker Shane Jennings, was driven over the Treviso line as Declan Kidney’s charges gave the Italians a taste of their own mauling medicine. Byrne’s sixth career try was the ideal tonic eight minutes before the break, despite Holwell’s conversion hitting the post.

O’Kelly’s sin-binning for persistent ruck infringement saw Leinster a man down six minutes after the restart and Goosen’s third penalty reduced the deficit to just two.

Leinster did not panic however, and IRB World Player of the Year nominee Gordon D’Arcy made a searing break near the hour and put Horgan in at the right corner. Holwell brilliantly clipped the acutely-angled conversion over.

Denis Hickie, who switched effortlessly to full-back, ran all of 60 metres before offloading for O’Driscoll to seal Leinster’s encouraging start.