Nacewa cements top spot for Leinster

Leinster cemented their place at the top of the Pro12 standings with an impressive 42-8 win over Italian rivals Treviso, while Glasgow Warriors also strengthened their grip on a top-four place in Thursday’s other match.

Fijian magician Isa Nacewa inspired Leinster to cut loose in the final quarter of their clash against Treviso.

The Italians proved hard to put away for the majority of the match and prop Matteo Muccignat’s unconverted try on 55 minutes brought the visitors to 14-8.

But a young Leinster moved up the gears in the final 20 minutes with Richardt Strauss, John Cooney, Fionn Carr and Nacewa, who finished with a 20-point haul.

That made it 11 wins in a row for the European champions and they are now 14 points clear of the Ospreys in second place ahead of their clash with Edinburgh.

Nacewa, taking the kicking tee in the absence of Jonathan Sexton, opened the scoring with a straightforward fifth minute penalty only for Alberto di Bernardo to level the scores with a well-struck drop goal.

But Leinster’s response was instant when fly-half Ian Madigan stepped past a defender to touch down his sixth try of the competition.

Nacewa was off target with the conversion but made amends with a his second penalty to give the home team a 11-3 lead at the break.

The Fijian fullback showed his class in defence to usher out Brendan Williams’ grubber kick and added another penalty to edge Leinster further ahead.

But just as the RDS were anticipating Leinster to pull away, Fernandez-Rouyet put in fellow prop Muccignat with a well-timed pass to put Treviso back into it, but di Bernardo missed a conversion and subsequent penalty which proved costly.

It was just the wake-up call Leinster needed as Carr cut through the Treviso defence to set up hooker Strauss for the second try.

Leinster’s big advantage was their strength in depth off the bench and replacement Dave Kearney’s first act was to set up Nacewa for a score.

Nacewa turned provider for John Cooney’s try with nine minutes to go and with time almost up Madigan’s crossfield kick was gathered by Carr for the final score of the night.

* Meanwhile Glasgow Warriors strengthened their grip on a top-four place in the Pro12 as they saw off play-off rivals Scarlets 19-9 in a tight game at Firhill.

Prop John Welsh scored the only try of the game on the half-hour mark, while Scotland hopeful Ruaridh Jackson had a mixed bag on his return from injury at flyhalf.

Despite kicking 14 points, Jackson’s radar was not always functioning smoothly as he missed three first-half penalties.

All the Scarlets’ points came from the boot of Dan Newton but shorn of their Welsh internationals the visitors failed to click as an attacking unit.

With the teams sat fourth and fifth heading into the match, it was little surprise the first half was an incredibly tight affair at Firhill.

Both Jackson and Newton were off target with penalties in the opening ten minutes before the former did open his account when the Scarlets came in from the side on 14 minutes.

The hosts were dominating possession and territory but after 13 rounds of competition the Scarlets showed exactly why they have the best defensive record with some thundering hits and turnovers.

Jackson was again off target with a longer-range penalty and further blotted his copybook when he conceded a penalty that allowed Newton to level the scores.

It took a moment of invention from Samoan winger David Lemi to nearly break the try deadlock when his chip and chase nearly resulted in a score, but the TMO ruled Gareth Davies got the first touch of the ball.

There were more worrying moments for the Scarlets coaching staff shortly afterwards when Iestyn Thomas departed the field with a suspected neck injury on 29 minutes.

Just two minutes later, Glasgow finally got the try their superiority merited when they were camped on the Scarlets line and Welsh burrowed over from close range.

Jackson converted but in a shaky half for the Scotland fly-half he botched his third penalty more or less straight in front of the posts to leave the halftime score 10-3.

Despite the Scarlets making a bright start to the second half, a break by David Lemi had the visitors scrambling in defence and conceded a penalty which Jackson converted only for Newton to immediately reply to keep it a seven-point game.

The kickers exchanged a further penalty apiece before Jackson nudged the Scarlets out of bonus-point territory with his fourth penalty with ten minutes to go.

Thursday’s scores and scorers:

Leinster 42-8 Treviso

The scorers:

For Leinster:
Tries: Nacewa, Carr, Madigan, Cooney, Strauss
Cons: Nacewa 3, Madigan
Pens: Nacewa 3

For Benetton Treviso:
Try: Muccignat
Pen: Di Bernardo

Teams:

Leinster: 15 Isa Nacewa, 14 Darren Hudson, 13 Brendan Macken, 12 Colm O’Shea, 11 Fionn Carr, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Leo Auva’a, 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Kevin McLaughlin (captain), 5 Devin Toner, 4 Damian Browne, 3 Nathan White, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Heinke van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Tom Sexton, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Jamie Hagan, 19 Mark Flanagan, 20 Jordi Murphy, 21 John Cooney, 22 Noel Reid, 23 Andrew Boyle.

Treviso: 15 Ludovico Nitoglia, 14 Benjamin De Jager, 13 Ezio Galon, 12 Andrea Pratichetti, 11 Brendan Williams, 10 Alberto Di Bernardo, 9 Alberto Chillon, 8 Marco Filippucci, 7 Benjamin Vermaak, 6 Gonzalo Padrò, 5 Valerio Bernabò (captain), 4 Francesco Minto, 3 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet, 2 Enrico Ceccato, 1 Matteo Muccignat.
Replacements: 16 Diego Vidal, 17 Carlo Fazzari, 18 Pedro Di Santo, 19 Marco Fuser, 20 Enrico Pavanello, 21 Simon Picone, 22 Gonzalo Garcia, 23 Tommaso Iannone.

Referee: Leighton Hodges
Assistant referees: Mark Patton (Ireland), Richard Kerr (Ireland)
TMO: Alan Rogan (Ireland)

Warriors 19-9 Scarlets

The scorers:

For Glasgow Warriors:
Try: Welsh
Con: Jackson
Pens: Jackson 4

For the Scarlets:
Pens: Newton 3

Teams:

Glasgow: 15 Peter Murchie, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Troy Nathan, 12 Graeme Morrison (captain), 11 David Lemi, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Chris Fusaro, 6 Rob Harley, 5 Tom Ryder, 4 Rob Verbakel, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements: 16 Fergus Thomson, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 George Hunter, 19 Nick Campbell, 20 Calum Forrester, 21 Murray McConnell, 22 Alex Dunbar, 23 Scott Wight.

Scarlets: 15 Dan Newton, 14 Viliami Iongi, 13 Gareth Maule (captain), 12 Adam Warren, 11 Andy Fenby, 10 Aled Thomas, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Matt Gilbert, 7 Johnathan Edwards, 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 Dominic Day 4 Sione Timani, 3 Peter Edwards, 2 Emyr Phillips ,1 Iestyn Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Craig Hawkins, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Simon Gardiner, 19 Damian Welch, 20 Kieran Murphy, 21 Liam Davies, 22 Nick Reynolds, 23 Daniel Evans.

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Andy Macpherson (Scotland), Bob Nevins (Scotland)
TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)