Man-of-the-match Isa Nacewa scored a try as part of a 20 point haul as Leinster recorded an impressive bonus point victory over Italian side Treviso in the RaboDirectPRO12 on a wet evening at the RDS.
Leinster ran in five tries in the end in wet and windy conditions that were far from conducive to open rugby. Isa Nacewa opened the scoring with a penalty from a tight angle on five minutes.
Treviso out-half Di Bernardo levelled on 20 minutes with a sweetly-taken drop goal, but his opposite number Ian Madigan broke through two tackles almost immediately after the restart to crash over in the corner for his sixth try of the season.
Nacewa then extended the home side’s lead on 32 minutes with another penalty after some good work by Brendan Macken and Leo Auva’a had the Treviso defence under pressure to send the home side in 11-3 up at the break.
Leinster had to resist some intense Treviso pressure close to their own line early in the second period, with Di Bernardo missing a straightforward kick from almost in front of the posts following a Leinster line-out infringement. The miss was compounded on 52 minutes when Nacewa slotted another penalty for the home side to take the score to 14-3.
But Treviso were right back in the game on 55 minutes when prop Matteo Muccignat took advantage of a blind side overlap to touch down in the corner following a scrum 15 metres out from the Leinster line. But Leinster responded and, following a great break from midfield from midfield, Richardt Strauss crashed over, with Nacewa adding the extras.
That ended the match as a contest and Leinster looked to immediately press home their advantage and began to play a more expansive game. They were rewarded for their endeavours on 66 minutes when Nacewa touched down after exchanging passes with substitute David Kearney, and suddenly a bonus point win was a distinct possibility.
The fourth try and precious bonus point duly arrived on 71 minutes when substitute John Cooney, on the field for less than three minutes, finished off a fluid running move involving Nacewa and Kearney, with Nacewa slotting his third conversion of the evening.
Fionn Carr added a fifth try in the final minute which Madigan converted to complete the rout and send the home crowd away very happy indeed.