Leinster fell to a disappointing 29-13 defeat away to Benetton Treviso in Saturday evening’ Magners League clash at the Stadio di Monigo…Joe Schmidt Post Match Reaction…
Speaking after the game, Leinster Coach Joe Schmidt commented: “I’m really disappointed with the result and the performance as well. In those conditions you really need to have a platform to play from and I don’t think we ever gave ourselves a platform from the start."
Isa Nacewa notched an early Leinster try after some excellent work by Sean O'Brien and Eoin O'Malley but two Tobie Botes penalties and a brace of Chris Burton drop goals helped Treviso lead 12-10 at half-time.
Nacewa briefly restored Leinster's lead after some more good work by O'Brien but another Botes penalty and a Luke McLean try put Treviso 22-13 ahead.
Then in the closing minutes as Leinster pressed the dangerous Brendan Williams capitalised on an ambitious kick and chase to touch down, with Botes adding the conversion, to give the Italians a 16-point margin of victory.
BENETTON TREVISO SCORERS: L. McLean, B. Williams (1 try each), T. Botes (3 penalties, 2 conversions), K. Burton (2 drop goals)
LEINSTER SCORER: I. Nacewa (1 try, 2 penalties, 1 conversion)
BENETTON TREVISO:
15: Brendan Williams
14: Joseph Maddock
13: Tommaso Benvenuti
12: Alberto Sgarbi
11: Luke McLean
10: Kristopher Burton
9: Tobias Botes
1: Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet
2: Leonardo Ghiraldini CAPTAIN
3: Lorenzo Cittadini
4: Valerio Bernabò
5: Corniel Van Zyl
6: Robert Barbieri
7: Alessandro Zanni
8: Manoa Vosawai
REPLACEMENTS:
16: Diego Vidal
17: Franco Sbaraglini
18: Pedro Di Santo
19: Enrico Pavanello
20: Paul Derbyshire
21: Ezio Galon
22: Fabio Semenzato
23: Simon Picone
LEINSTER:
15: Rob Kearney
14: Isa Nacewa
13: Eoin O’Malley
12: Gordon D’Arcy (Fergus McFadden, 54)
11: Luke Fitzgerald
10: Ian Madigan
9: Eoin Reddan (Isaac Boss, 66)
1: Cian Healy (Heinke van der Merwe, 54)
2: John Fogarty (Richardt Strauss, 34-40 blood and 46)
3: Mike Ross (Simon Shawe, 64)
4: Nathan Hines (Mariano Galarza, 74)
5: Ed O’Donoghue
6: Rhys Ruddock (Stephen Keogh, 77)
7: Shane Jennings CAPTAIN
8: Sean O’Brien
REPLACEMENT NOT USED: David Kearney
REFEREE: Peter Allan (SRU), ASSISTANT REFEREES: Stefano Marrama, Domenico Sironi (both FIR), TMO: Carlo Damasco (FIR)