European Cup Pool Two: There was plenty of on-pitch eye candy for Leinster supporters at Lansdowne Road on Saturday evening, victory embroidered by beguiling sleight of hand and speed of foot. Leinster thumbed through a chapter from the Barbarians play-book, playing ducks and drakes with a plucky but totally outclassed team.
The consensus amongst some of the home fans suggested this was a 'victory-lite' because of the poor opposition. Condescension was a little misplaced. The Italian club had won three of their six pool matches and entered this contest with mathematical possibilities of making the play-offs.
About 10 minutes into this game they were faced with a more straight-forward equation. Leinster had invaded their dreams and banished any flights of fancy with a brace of tries. Treviso came back on both occasions, coming close to scoring, but once the gap widened, the Italians were forced to run on the oxygen of pride alone.
The clamour beforehand had been for a vastly-improved performance by the Leinster pack, accused of cowering in the face of Bath aggression in the trenches at the Recreation Ground last time out. The significant improvement in performance will be tempered once again by doubts as to the quality of opposition; a harsh assessment.
The Leinster lineout, while still not a thing of great beauty or precision engineering, functioned well, providing a platform. Malcolm O'Kelly travelled many miles up and down the line to secure possession and it was others who coughed up the acceptably few turnovers. The home pack bossed the scrum, tweaking it any way they pleased and causing Treviso considerable problems on their own put- in.
Indeed the workmanship across the various sectors from a Leinster forward perspective was good. They established a powerful driving maul that yielded yardage and a try for industrious hooker Shane Byrne, Victor Costello was unleashed in areas of the pitch in which he would inflict maximum damage and to a man the pack contributed handsomely.
None excelled more than young openside Shane Jennings - he was voted man of the match - and it had nothing really to do with the two tries he scored.
They merely embellished a superb display. In the Bath game he suggested he was beginning to acclimatise to European rugby; yesterday he proffered an even more compelling case.
He modestly looked to deflect attention but did admit: "it's certainly taken me a while to settle but I'm happy that I am improving. I am certainly nowhere near the finished product but I'm learning."
Keith Gleeson's return to the training paddock will have concentrated the mind but it didn't inhibit the tyro's performance.
Jennings ran intelligent support lines for both his tries, a reward for footballing nous but also down to the innate good habits of others. Leinster coach Declan Kidney spoke beforehand about the value of David Holwell to this Leinster team, pointing out that it was not just what the New Zealander did but what he allowed others to do that have singled him out as exceptional.
Without naming names, Kidney observed in the aftermath: "He who creates them (the tries) deserves more plaudits than the guy who touches down." Holwell provided further evidence of his influence and all- round excellence whether one cares to examine his place-kicking, punting, distribution, lines of running, vision or tackling. He's a facilitator and the benefits accrue to those outside him.
Gordon D'Arcy, despite being inconvenienced by a niggling hand injury, gave a display more worthy of his talent than the Bath game, complete with trademark try.
Brian O'Driscoll elevated common sense to an art form and had one or two been a little sharper to his offloads more tries would have been scored. The Ireland captain was the instigator for the try of the match on 63 minutes when he scampered between two players inside his own 22, before inviting Denis Hickie on an inside line that eventually culminated in a try for Shane Horgan.
Hickie was back to his imperious best, one dose of whitewash fever aside, while Shane Horgan's hat-trick of tries was a fitting recompense for his last couple of performances.
It would be churlish not to acknowledge the contribution of Treviso to the evening's entertainment, especially diminutive fullback Brendan Williams, whose dancing feet were appreciated by all present.
The Italian side never stopped trying and using the full width of the pitch to ask several questions of the Leinster defence. They couldn't retain possession long enough most of the time to make the inquisition pertinent.
Leinster's nap hand from the pool, six wins in as many matches, earned them their number one seeding and it matters little whether one considers their pool hard or easy.
Kidney was "happy", pointing out "the team has improved from week to week and you can't ask for too much more.
"I know we have the potential to do that to teams when the passes go to hand. They won't always but when they do you can see what this team is capable of and also the fact that we could make a nuisance of ourselves later on in the tournament."
There are too many variables to consider quite apart from the quarter-final draw, like injuries and also the fact that when Leinster pitch up to the knock-out phase of this competition they will probably only have one match, against Llanelli in March, to fine tune their preparations.
For now, though, they deserve to bask in the glow of their achievements.
Scoring sequence: 2 mins: Hickie try, 5-0; 11: S Byrne try, Holwell conversion, 12-0; 19: Goosen penalty, 12-3; 24: Horgan try, Holwell conversion, 19-3; 32: D'Arcy try, Holwell conversion, 26-3. Half-time: 26-3. 41: Dempsey try, Holwell conversion, 33-3; 44: Horgan try, Holwell conversion, 40-3; 53: Jennings try, 45-3; 58: Williams try, Goosen conversion, 45-10; 63: Horgan try, Holwell conversion, 52-10; 69: Jennings try, 57-10; 74: Goosen try, Goosen conversion, 57-17.
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, D Hickie; D Holwell, G Easterby; R Corrigan (capt), S Byrne, E Byrne; L Cullen, M O'Kelly; E Miller, V Costello, S Jennings. Replacements: R Nebbett for E Byrne (52 mins); B O'Meara for Easterby (64 mins); A McCullen for Costello (70 mins); F Contepomi for O'Driscoll (70 mins); K Lewis for D'Arcy (75 mins); D Blaney for S Byrne (75 mins); C Potts for S Jennings (75 mins).
BENETTON TREVISO: B Williams; T Visentin, W Pozzebon, M Goosen, S Legg; F Smith, A Troncon (capt); G Faliva, F Ongaro, S Costanzo; G Klerck, M Wentzel; S Orlando, S Parisse, E Pavenello. Replacements: A Gritti for Wentzel (21-32 mins); S Palmer for Pavanello (half-time); F Sbaraglini for Faliva (45 mins); S Garozzo for Orlando (45 mins); T Alvaro for Ongaro (59 mins); W Wium for Palmer (64 mins); Gritti for Wentzel (70 mins); A Sartoretto for Visentin (75 mins).
Referee: E Darriere (France).
