Madigan sparks Leinster to life

Leinster 26 Aironi 7: IT WAS the sort of miserably wet night that would have had Noah reaching for his hammer and nails, and…

Leinster 26 Aironi 7:IT WAS the sort of miserably wet night that would have had Noah reaching for his hammer and nails, and for a while it looked like Leinster might drown because they didn't look capable of helping themselves .

They trailed to the very limited Italians by 7-0 at the break after a wretched 40 minutes of rugby, but in the second half Joe Schmidt’s team finally kicked their legs.

“I’d assess our position as having our head above water, but paddling like mad,” said Schmidt after the match. “I think though that at the very least we’ve gotten rid of our water-wings and we can keep ourselves afloat now.

“We had some really young guys there who needed a bit of a boost. I think they’ve created their own boost now so they’ll be able to fight through from here.”

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The match turned on the introduction of Ian Madigan at outhalf for the second 40 minutes. He brought much needed energy and imagination to Leinster’s back-line and scored their first try that gave them the toe-hold in the game. If his demotion to the subs bench was intended as a timely kick up the backside, then Schmidt’s aim was straight and true.

“Mads has been working really hard on his game,” said Schmidt. “He’s a work in progress and he’ll be the first to admit that. The progress was evident tonight and that will hopefully be a good confidence booster for him.”

Leinster visibly relaxed after Madigan’s try nine minutes into the second half and began playing the sort of intelligent and cohesive rugby that had been markedly absent in the first 40 minutes. A more aggressive pack was now giving the backs a platform, and Madigan made the most of it by moving the ball with great zip.

That brought the best from Isa Nacewa and Luke Fitzgerald, who began punching holes in the Aironi defence, and suddenly Leinster were moving forward with a new-found menace.

Nacewa scored their second try with a typically slashing run and then Fitzgerald ran over under the posts after a canny interception in midfield. There was time for one last flourish, Rhys Ruddock forcing his way over from close range at the death to earn his team a bonus point.

Schmidt wasn’t getting too carried away, though, because he knows next Saturday’s showdown with Connacht will be tougher.

“There is no chance that Connacht are going to give us anything easy next weekend. They did a great job getting a bonus point away to Ospreys. They come here with a little bit of a chip on both shoulders and they’ll be looking to get those shoulders warmed up good and early to knock us over.”

LEINSTER: I Nacewa; F Carr, E O’Malley, L Fitzgerald, D Kearney; N Reid, C Willis; H Van Der Merwe, R Strauss, J Hagan; S Sykes, D Toner; C Ruddock, R Ruddock, L Auva’a. Replacements: I Madigan for N Reid (half-time), J Murphy for C Ruddock (51 mins).

AIRONI: R Trevisan; S Sinoti, R Quartaroli, G Pizarro, G Venditti; T Tebaldi, T Keats; A De Marchi; R Santamaria, F Staibano; J Furno, G Biagi; J Sole, S Favaro, N Williams. Replacements: N Olivier for Keats, G Pavan for Pizzaro, M Aguero for De Marchi (all 59 mins), F Ferrarini for Favaro (69 mins), D Ciazzon for Santamaria (71 mins), F Cazzola for Biagi (77 mins). Sin-bin: Sinoti (23 mins).

Referee: M Mitrea (FIR).