Friendly match/Leinster 22 Padova 12: Hardly an ideal final warm-up for the daunting trip to Toulouse on April 1st but it will have to do. Leinster assistant coach David Knox got on the blower to his former team Petrarca a few weeks back and the Italians duly obliged by turning up in Donnybrook with plenty of intent.
This was about scrums, lineouts and giving the halfbacks a decent run. Barring injury, the rest of this backline won't even make the bench come the Heineken European Cup quarter-final. The regulars were either playing for Ireland A or preparing for Twickenham. One from each row in the pack were also missing; Brian Blaney, Malcolm O'Kelly and Jamie Heaslip. Denis Hickie was another notable absentee.
"Hickie had a stomach bug but he'll be all right," said Michael Cheika.
"We needed this run-out and it was an ideal chance to look at a lot of guys who will be playing in Toulouse. They just needed a hit out and they got it."
An entertaining aspect of holding this game on St Patrick's evening was not many people showed up, making the instructions from the line easy to overhear. We won't go into detail but it became apparent that former All Black Mike Brewer is to be respected. The man doesn't mince words.
Bernard Jackman laid a marker for inclusion from the outset in Toulouse with the first try after 20 minutes, the hooker controlling a driving maul for the first try.
Three more tries came from the promptings of Felipe Contepomi at outhalf with the men out wide Eoghan Hickey (two), looking decent on the wing, and Gary Brown providing the finishing touches.
LEINSTER: R McCarron; G Brown, S Grissing, J Hepworth, E Hickey; F Contepomi, G Easterby; R Corrigan, B Jackman, W Green; A Byrnes, B Williams; C Jowitt, K Gleeson, E Miller. Replacements: K McLoughlan for C Jowitt (half-time), N Ronan for K McLoughlan (60 mins).
Referee: J Clancy (ARLB).
