MAGNERS LEAGUE Aironi Rugby 8 Leinster 20:JOB DONE. Mission accomplished. The Leinster bandwagon moved into Viadana on Saturday, claimed four points and escaped without any injury concerns.
Leinster never found their best form against a game but profligate Aironi side but still did enough to grind out a 20-8 victory at the lively Stadio Luigi Zaffanella which saw them reclaim second spot in the Magners League – and the promise of a home draw in the play-offs which comes with it.
The visitors did all of their damage in the opening period, racking up tries through Seán O’Brien and Cian Healy, and 10 points from the boot of Fergus McFadden, who missed just one of the five kicks which came his way.
Aironi enjoyed decent amounts of territory and possession but Tito Tebaldi had an off day with the boot while his colleagues repeatedly squandered promising openings, their sole try coming from Gareth Krause with just over 12 minutes remaining.
Consequently, Leinster were able to go the entire second half without scoring and still come out on top. Head coach Joe Schmidt said his side had underperformed but given that Toulouse are due in Dublin this weekend for a mouth-watering Heineken Cup semi-final showdown, felt that the game had to be put into context.
“I can’t say that we were great today but I’m happy with the result,” he said. “We didn’t appear to pick up any injuries so, for us, that’s the most satisfying thing.
“I sensed at half-time when we were up 20-3 that the players were just starting to fade . . . Without wanting to make excuses, we did drop off a bit in the second half. So we’ve really got to make sure that that doesn’t happen against Toulouse next week.”
Leinster did craft two fine tries in the opening 40 minutes. The first arrived midway through the first half, Brian O’Driscoll producing an expertly-timed reverse pass which enabled O’Brien to score behind the posts.
The province struck again shortly before the break. This time McFadden was the creator, the Ireland wing injecting some pace into an attack out wide before off-loading well to O’Brien, who stormed past two men before holding off Horacio San Martin to roll his way over the whitewash.
Aironi spent 10 minutes down to 14 following the sin-binning of number eight Nick Williams for a shoulder charge on O’Brien early in the second half but they registered a consolation score when Krause wriggled his way over.
AIRONI: H San Martin; K Robertson (M Pratichetti, 35), G Pavan, G Pizarro (R Bocchino, 74), D Demas; J Marshall, T Tebaldi (P Canavosio, 55); A De Marchi (S Perugini, 55), F Ongaro (L Ferraro, 65), F Staibano (L Redolfini, 50); J Furro, M Bortolami (Q Geldenhuys, 70); J Sole (N Cattina, 62), G Krause, N Williams. Replacements: L Ferraro, S Perugini, L Redolfini, Q Geldenhuys, N Caffina, P Canavosio, M Pratichetti, R Bocchino.
LEINSTER: D Kearney; F McFadden, B ODriscoll (S Horgan, 65), E OMalley, L Fitzgerald; I Madigan, E Reddan; C Healy (H van der Merwe, 63), J Harris-Wright, M Ross (S Wright, 58); D Toner, N Hines; R Ruddock, S Jennings (L Cullen, 70), S OBrien (D Ryan, 63). Replacements: R Strauss, H van der Merwe, S Wright, L Cullen, D Ryan, I Boss, J Sexton, S Horgan. Yellow Card: N Williams 50)
Referee: A McMenemy(Scotland).
