Leinster in cruise control

Leinster 66 Padova 3: Leinster rounded off their pre-season campaign with an emphatic 66-3 win over Italian super 10 side Padova…

Leinster 66 Padova 3:Leinster rounded off their pre-season campaign with an emphatic 66-3 win over Italian super 10 side Padova.

Gary Brown bagged a first-half hat-trick of tries while Luke Fitzgerald and replacement Fergus McFadden chipped in with a brace each as  Leinster dominated the game practically from the off.

Cian Healy and Brian Blaney also crossed over while Jonathan Sexton impressed with a 21-point tally which included a try.

Leinster's dominance continued in the second half with Cian Healy getting on the scoresheet, while Fitzgerald capitalised on a fortuitous bounce from a clever kick forward on the hour mark to touch down.

Sexton added both conversions and his third of the half in the 71st minute for sub Fergus McFadden who impressed with a late cameo.

Leinster coach Michael Cheika was happy with his sides display.

"It was a good enough performance in patches," he said. "I thought there was a few five minute period where we lost our way and didn't maintain our composure as well as we might have, but all in all we handled well and our set-piece was good, so I'm happy enough overall."

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