Exiles through to Heineken Cup quarter-finals

Treviso 11 London Irish 24

Peter Richards suffered an injury scare as London Irish clinched their place in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup with a comfortable win over Italian side Treviso today.

Richards scored one of three first-half tries with Tomas De Vedia and Peter Hewat grabbing the others as Irish built a 19-0 half-time lead with Hewat adding the fourth late on.

Treviso staged a second-half comeback with a try through Benjamin De Jager and two penalties from Maruis Goosen.

Richards did not re-appear for the second half, sparking concerns over his fitness as he joins the England squad on Monday for training ahead of the Six Nations Championship.

Irish's bonus-point win means they finished on top of Pool One and guarantees them a home tie in the next round.

The home team had to endure a torrid opening five minutes before Peter Hewat calmed nerves with a penalty awarded after Nick Kennedy was pulled down in the lineout.

Number eight Richard Thorpe opened Irish's bonus point search with a try in the right corner in the 12th minute. The 23-year-old burst through four tackles to score. Hewat added the extras with an outstanding conversion from the touchline.

Five minutes later Richards was the creator of his team's second try. A cheeky break through midfield was brought to a stop by an illegal block, but just before he was felled the scrum half chipped the ball over the oncoming defence.

Eoghan Hickey was able to follow-up and touch down just left of the posts. Hewat converted to make the score 17-0.

Centre Paul Emerick found himself despatched to the sin-bin for killing the ball. It took only two minutes before Irish extracted the maximum price for his absence.

A patient build-up was rewarded when Shane Geraghty waltzed through the defence for his first score of the season and Irish's third try of the game. Hewat added the extras.

The one way traffic was brought to an abrupt halt in the 32nd minute when Topsy Ojo attempted a clearance kick under pressure. His slow kick was blocked and rebounded over the Irish try line to leave Richard Fussell with an easy touch down. Ceri Sweeney added the conversion.

It took Irish just five minutes to respond with their fourth, bonus point-winning try. This time it was the backs that combined in a magical piece of handling and running.

Richards was the orchestrator once again. His pass to the right found Delon Armitage, the outside centre drew the defence before passing inside to Peter Hewat whose choice of running line split the defence and he touched down unopposed.

Irish continued from where they had left off after the restart. Early pressure forced the Dragons to defend deep before a multi-phase move culminated in Richard Thorpe scoring his second try in the left corner. Hewat missed the conversion.

Sensing a relaxation in the Irish offence the Dragons re-grouped and mounted a series of attacks one of which culminated in a Michael Owen cross-field kick that landed in the hands of hooker Ben Daly who had the easiest of touchdowns in the right corner.

The initiative passed to the visitors as Irish failed to regain control of the ball. A knock-on by Hickey just left of his posts in the 57th minute was the prelude to the Dragons third try by Gareth Wyatt.

Ceri Sweeney was having more influence and it was no surprise to see him picking his way through the defence to score under the posts in the 67th minute. He kicked the easy conversion.

In the 76th minute Hudson won a lineout, and the pack used it as a platform for a pick and go sequence that earned precious metres before Thorpe was released for his third try of the game, Hickey adding the extras.