European Club Rugby : Irish earn bonus pint win to secure home quarter-final

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Irish earn bonus pint win to secure home quarter-final

Benetton Treviso	11 - 24	London Irish
Stadio Comunale di Monigo, Treviso Att: 3,500
Referee: Pascal Gauzere
Saturday 19th January 2008, 14:30
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Benetton Treviso v London Irish Highlights Round 6

Match report

London Irish followed Saracens' lead by bagging their first Heineken Cup quarter-final spot - and a home draw to boot.

The Irish arrived in Italy knowing that a fourth try bonus point and a fifth win in six games would not only give them top spot in Pool 1, but also guarantee them a home quarter-final.

Coach Brian Smith obviously told his players to chase the four tries right from the off and with England scrum half Peter Richards urging his side to attack from everywhere the visitors threw caution to the wind.

Having beaten Treviso 42-9 at home in round one, Irish had the confidence to spread the ball from the start, but they ran into some spirited defence in the first quarter.
In fact, it took 22 minutes before the first points came. Having kicked a string of penalties to the touchline, Irish gained another when home prop Nicolas De Gegori dived into a ruck to kill the ball.

That left French referee Pascal Gauzere with no alternative other than to issue a yellow card and Irish skipper Bob Casey immediately opted for a scrum five metres out. His pack duly obliged with a safe strike and half turn towards the touchline and a delicate flip pass from No 8 Juan Leguizamon allowed Richards to sprint over and claim a try at the posts.

Peter Hewat added the conversion and there were two more tries to follow before the break to leave Irish on the verge of their ultimate goal.

It was Richards who paved the way for the second try as he turned a turn-over ball on half-way into an attacking penalty on the home 10 metre line for a high tackle. Shane Geraghty spotted his wing Thomas De Veida free on the right and his cross field kick was caught on the full to allow the Argentinean to race the length of the 22 for a sucker try.

Hewat added a second conversion and then converted a Delon Armitage break into try number three. The full back's conversion attempt came back off the upright
Treviso were a different side in the second half and were far more competitive at the break down and dominated the territory in the third quarter. Skipper Marius Goosen broke his side's duck with two penalties and then missed with a third that could have made it even more interesting.

Referee Gauzere's decision to send a second home prop, this time Salvatore Costanzo, to the sin bin upset the Treviso fans, but didn't cost them in the same way as it had in the first half.

There were uncontested scrums until he returned and then Argentinean flyer Lucas Borges and Australian full back Brendan Williams combined to send Treviso's South African wing Thomas De Jager over in the left corner for a great try.

Goosen's conversion attempt was wide to leave the home side two scores behind. That made it 11-0 to Treviso in the second half and the Irish were still short of the bonus point they craved to guarantee a home quarter-final slot.

If it hadn't looked like coming for 50 minutes, it finally arrived in the eighth minute of injury time when full back Hewat crossed.

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Benetton Treviso

London Irish

Pos

Player

Pos

Brendan Williams

Peter Hewat

Lucas Borges

Tomas De Vedia

Marius Goosen

Delon Armitage

Dale Heidtmann (capt)

Gonzalo Tiesi

Benjamin de Jager

Sailosi Tagicakibau

Andrea Marcato

Shane Geraghty

Fabio Semenzato

Peter Richards

Nicolas De Gregori

Tonga Leaaetoa

Franco Sbaraglini

David Paice

Salvatore Costanzo

Faan Rautenbach

Roderick Labuschagne

Nick Kennedy

Cornelius van Zyl

Bob Casey (capt)

Robert Barbieri

Richard Thorpe

Hottie Louw

Declan Danaher

Dion Kingi

Juan Leguizamon

Replacements

Diego Vidal

Dan Murphy

Michael Barbieri

Danie Coetzee

Alberto Sgarbi

James Hudson

Will Johnson

Phil Murphy

Silvio Orlando

Steffon Armitage

Scott Palmer

Paul Hodgson

Emiliano Mulieri

Eoghan Hickey

Penalty Tries

First half timeline
21	Benetton Treviso	Yellow card - N De Gregori
22	Benetton Treviso	Temporary sub - M Barbieri on for B de Jager
23	London Irish	Try - P Richards
23	London Irish	Conversion - P Hewat
31	Benetton Treviso	Miss Pen: M Goosen
33	London Irish	Try - T De Vedia
33	London Irish	Conversion - P Hewat
33	Benetton Treviso	Substitution - B de Jager on for M Barbieri
35	London Irish	Substitution - D Murphy on for F Rautenbach
35	Benetton Treviso	Substitution - A Sgarbi on for D Heidtmann
36	London Irish	Try - P Hewat
36	London Irish	Miss Con: P Hewat
Second half timeline
41	London Irish	Substitution - P Hodgson on for P Richards
42	Benetton Treviso	Penalty kick - M Goosen
42	Benetton Treviso	Substitution - W Johnson on for R Labuschagne
47	Benetton Treviso	Penalty kick - M Goosen
51	Benetton Treviso	Miss Pen: M Goosen
51	Benetton Treviso	Substitution - M Barbieri on for N De Gregori
51	Benetton Treviso	Substitution - S Orlando on for R Barbieri
56	Benetton Treviso	Yellow card - S Costanzo
66	London Irish	Substitution - D Coetzee on for D Paice
66	London Irish	Substitution - S Armitage on for R Thorpe
68	Benetton Treviso	Substitution - S Palmer on for H Louw
75	Benetton Treviso	Try - B de Jager
75	Benetton Treviso	Missed conversion Goosen
76	London Irish	Substitution - P Murphy on for J Leguizamon
78	London Irish	Substitution - J Hudson on for N Kennedy
80 +8	London Irish	Missed con: Hewat
80 +8	London Irish	Try - P Hewat

Results so far

Benetton Treviso

Date	Stage	Opposition	Score
19/1/08	Pool 1	London Irish	L 11-24
12/1/08	Pool 1	Perpignan	L 13-55
15/12/07	Pool 1	Newport Gwent Dragons	W 24-22
8/12/07	Pool 1	Newport Gwent Dragons	L 33-35
17/11/07	Pool 1	Perpignan	L 17-29
10/11/07	Pool 1	London Irish	L 9-42

London Irish

Date	Stage	Opposition	Score
26/4/08	Semi Finals	Toulouse	L 15-21
5/4/08	Quarter Finals	Perpignan	W 20-9
19/1/08	Pool 1	Benetton Treviso	W 24-11
12/1/08	Pool 1	Newport Gwent Dragons	W 41-24
15/12/07	Pool 1	Perpignan	L 6-23
9/12/07	Pool 1	Perpignan	W 24-16
17/11/07	Pool 1	Newport Gwent Dragons	W 45-17
10/11/07	Pool 1	Benetton Treviso	W 42-9

Previous Heineken Cup meetings

Date	Stage	Home	Score	Away
Sat 19th Jan 08	Pool 1	Benetton Treviso	11 - 24	London Irish
Sat 10th Nov 07	Pool 1	London Irish	42 - 9	Benetton Treviso

Heineken CupHistory

Benetton Treviso

2009/10 - Pool 1

2008/09 - Pool 3

2007/08 - Pool 1

2006/07 - Pool 1

2005/06 - Pool 4

2004/05 - Pool 2

2003/04 - Pool 5

2001/02 - Pool 2

1999/00 - Pool 5

1998/99 - Pool D

1997/98 - Pool E

1996/97 - Pool A

1995/96 - Pool A

London Irish

2009/10 - Pool 6

2007/08 - Semi Finals

2006/07 - Pool 5

2002/03 - Pool 5

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