Pro12 leaders Leinster were made to work very hard for their 22-6 victory over Aironi in the battle of the top and bottom sides at the Stadio Zaffanella on Friday.
Despite having only recorded three wins all season, the home side competed well as the first half wore on and threatened on a couple of occasions through their forwards and scrum-half Tito Tebaldi sniping around the breakdown.
They were unable to trouble the scoreboard though and Leinster edged further and further in front with three penalties from Ian Madigan, the second going over off the upright, to give the visitors a 9-0 half-time lead.
South African fly-half Naas Olivier, who turns 30 next Saturday, reduced the deficit for Aironi shortly after the restart and midway through the second-half replacement Tyson Keats took over the kicking duties to draw his side to within three points of the Dubliners.
Just as the Italians looked to have the momentum though, two more Madigan penalties either side of a yellow card for Aironi's replacement centre Gilberto Pavan put Leinster back in control.
The league leaders then dealt the killer blow with five minutes remaining as another replacement, Noel Reid, intercepted a long, floated pass before racing over half the length of the pitch to touch down underneath the posts.
Young prop Jack McGrath was sent to the sin bin late on for the visitors but it was never going to affect the outcome as Leinster cemented their place at the top of the table.
The scorers:
For Aironi:
Pens: Olivier, Orquera
For Leinster:
Try: Reid
Con: Madigan
Pens: Madigan 5
Yellow cards: Pavan (Aironi - 71st min) ; McGrath (Leinster - 80th min)
Aironi: 15 Giulio Toniolatti, 14 Riccardo Pavan, 13 Roberto Quartaroli, 12 Gabriel Pizarro, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Naas Olivier, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Josh Sole, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Nicola Cattina, 5 Carlo Del Fava, 4 George Biagi, 3 Lorenzo Romano, 2 Roberto Santamaria (capt), 1 Matias Aguero.
Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Salvatore Perugini, 19 Luca Redolfini, 20 Filippo Ferrarini, 21 Tyson Keats, 22 Luciano Orquera, 23 Gilberto Pavan.
Leinster: 15 Luke Fitzgerald, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Eoin O'Malley, 12 Brendan Macken, 11 Fionn Carr, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Rhys Ruddock, 7 Shane Jennings (capt), 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Damian Browne, 3 Nathan White, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Heinke van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Aaron Dundon, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Jamie Hagan, 19 Leo Auva'a, 20 Dominic Ryan, 21 John Cooney, 22 Noel Reid, 23 Isa Nacewa.
Venue: Stadio Zaffanella
Referee: Andrew Macpherson
Assistant Referees: Stefano Penne and Filippo Bertelli
Television Match Official: Alan Falzone
Comments
crunchfit says...
Ulster and Cardiff may have sent weakened teams, but Leinster also played weakened teams. Leinster have been able to keep the streak going without playing full strength teams. If it become important to win those difficult games you mentioned, Leinster always have the option of sending a stronger team.
Anyway, I'm sure most genuine fans wouldn't really care about the streak and would be aware that it's fairly useless when it comes to the HEC and knockout stages of the Pro12.
By the way, shouldn't that spear last night have been a red? It didn't look like Pavan meant to hurt O'Malley, but he picked him up, turned him completely vertical and then drove him down on his head... It did look like O'Malley turned upside down because he was picked up very low down on his body, but still, he was turned by Pavan and driven down (well, driven down and dropped on his head just before he hit the ground).
Posted 12:15 03rd March 2012