Leinster in ominous Euro form
Leinster stormed to an eight-try demolition of Edinburgh at the RDS on Friday, cruising to a 54-13 victory to book a home semifinal in the Pro12 competition.
The demolition of their Scottish rivals also sent an ominous warning of intent to their rivals, both in the league and in Europe.
* Meanwhile flyhalf Kris Burton racked up 18 points as Treviso claimed a fourth away Pro12 win of the season to secure a thrilling 33-32 win over Newport Gwent Dragons and leapfrog their opponents into eighth place.
All Friday's scores and scorers!
Newport Gwent Dragons 32-33 Benetton Treviso
Flyhalf Kris Burton racked up 18 points as Treviso claimed a fourth away Pro12 win of the season to secure a thrilling 33-32 win over Newport Gwent Dragons and leapfrog their opponents into eighth place.
Burton grabbed a fine try, one of four for the visitors, and added 13 points with his trusty right boot as the Dragons slipped to a second straight defeat at Rodney Parade.
It was a match to remember for South African Treviso coach Franco Smith, who finished his playing career in Newport, as the visitors repeatedly bounced back after going behind to seal a valuable victory.
The Dragons, looking to get back to winning ways after their disappointing home defeat to Connacht last time out, seized the upper hand early on with Lewis Robling landing a fourth-minute penalty.
Burton hit back for Treviso however, just two minutes later but Dragons flyer Aled Brew, who will join Biarritz in the off-season, raced home for his first try of the night inside a frenetic opening ten minutes.
Robling missed the conversion however and then missed a 13th-minute penalty which allowed Treviso to level things up at 8-8 when No.8 Alessandro Zanni powered his way over on 17.
With their tails up, Treviso, who arrived in Wales on the back of nine straight defeats in all competitions, took the lead six minutes later when Burton notched his second penalty of the game.
Robling's mixed night then continued as he then landed another three-pointer to restore parity once again before missing with his next effort as Treviso refused to lie down.
Brew cruised over on 38 minutes as the Dragons again threatened to pull away, this time outside centre Adam Hughes converting but just before the break Treviso full-back Luke McLean went over in the corner after Tommaso Iannone presented him with the easiest of opportunities.
Soon after the break Wales No.8 Toby Faletau finished off a fine, flowing Dragons move down the left with Hughes again adding the extras but once more Smith's men refused to lie down.
Just three minutes later Burton took his points tally to 13 with an excellent try but the Australia-born fly-half was errant with his conversion attempt, leaving Treviso trailing by two with 24 minutes to go.
But when Burton was on target with his third penalty of the night, after flank Lewis Evans was sent to the sin bin, the visitors seized a one-point lead and were within touching distance of victory.
The hosts had their chance when Treviso prop Michele Rizzo was pinged and followed Evans into the bin but Jason Tovey was off target with his penalty attempt before Italian centre Alberto Sgarbi scorched over with a breakaway try.
Burton added the extras but the drama was far from over as replacement Fabio Semenzato was also yellow carded, leaving Treviso to play out the final minutes with 13 men.
Hughes took matters into his own hands with a try and a conversion to take the Dragons to just 32-33 down with two minutes remaining but Treviso clung on for a famous bonus point victory.
Scorers:
For Newport Gwent Dragons:
Tries: Brew 2, Faletau, Hughes
Cons: Hughes 3
Pens: Robling 2
For Benetton Treviso:
Tries: Zanni, McLean, Burton, Sgarbi
Cons: Burton 2
Pens: Burton 3
Yellow cards: Lewis Evans (Newport Gwent Dragons, 66), Michele Rizzo (Benetton Treviso, 69), Fabio Semenzato (Benetton Treviso, 75)
Teams:
Newport Gwent Dragons: 15 Will Harries, 14 Tonderai Chavhanga, 13 Adam Hughes, 12 Ashley Smith, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Lewis Robling, 9 Joe Bedford, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Lewis Evans, 6 Danny Lydiate, 5 Rob Sidoli, 4 Luke Charteris (captain), 3 Nathan Buck, 2 Sam Parry, 1 Nathan Williams.
Replacements: 16 Steve Jones, 17 Phil Price, 18 Dan Way, 19 Scott Morgan, 20 Tom Brown, 21 Wayne Evans, 22 Jason Tovey, 23 Hallam Amos.
Benetton Treviso: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Tommaso Iannone, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Brendan Williams, 10 Kristopher Burton, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Marco Filippucci, 5 Corniel Van Zyl, 4 Antonio Pavanello (captain), 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Franco Sbaraglini, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Diego Vidal, 17 Matteo Muccignat, 18 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet, 19 Valerio Bernabò, 20 Francesco Minto, 21 Simon Picone, 22 Fabio Semenzato, 23 Alberto Di Bernardo.
Referee: James Matthew (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Sean Brickell (Wales), Chris Williams (Wales)
TMO: Tony Rowlands (Wales) (Wales)
Leinster 54-13 Edinburgh
Leinster stormed to an eight-try demolition of Edinburgh at the RDS, cruising to a 54-13 victory to book a home semifinal berth.
Joe Schmidt rested 12 players from the XV that blitzed Cardiff Blues to reach the Heineken Cup semifinal, but Edinburgh, who also reached the same stage of the competition last weekend, collapsed against Leinster's squad players at the RDS.
Only Jamie Heaslip, Gordon D'Arcy and Isa Nacewa retained their places but Edinburgh folded in Dublin, leaving Leinster to pick them off at their will.
Fergus McFadden endured a shaky night with the boot, beginning with a fifth-minute penalty miss, but that was soon forgotten when flank Shane Jennings powered over to break the deadlock on eight minutes.
Again McFadden was off target with the conversion however, enabling Edinburgh to level just six minutes later when Scotland centre Nick De Luca stormed over the line.
Greig Laidlaw, instrumental in Edinburgh's historic Heineken Cup victory over Toulouse made no mistake with the conversion as the visitors took a short-lived lead - cancelled out when McFadden took matters into hand and raced over for a 15th-minute try.
He contrived to miss the conversion and a penalty soon after however before finally hitting the target from the tee, handing the league leaders a 13-7 lead on 29 minutes.
Leinster hooker Sean Cronin barrelled his way over just before the half-time interval as the Irish province turned the screw but again McFadden missed the conversion, leaving Edinburgh clinging on at the break at 18-7 down.
Just three minutes after the break, defending European champions Leinster stretched their lead when Fionn Carr claimed Ian Madigan's cross-field kick to touch down in the left corner - full-back Isa Nacewa assuming kicking duties and notching the conversion.
Laidlaw trimmed the deficit to 12 with two quickfire penalties but in the final 20 minutes, Leinster ran riot.
Nacewa put the hosts on their way with a 60th-minute penalty and five minutes later the New Zealand-born flyer converted his own try as Edinburgh fell to pieces.
A flurry of substitutions then saw Kiwi No.8 Leo Auva'a force his way over with his first real involvement of the game on 67 minutes before Brendan Macken got in on the act just three minutes later.
Madigan converted and when Devin Toner went through under the posts in the final minute, Leinster reached the 50-point mark before the in-form fly-half rounded off a thoroughly convincing win with the extras.
Scorers:
For Leinster:
Tries: Jennings, McFadden, Cronin, Carr, Nacewa, Auva'a, Macken, Toner
Cons: Nacewa 2, Madigan 2
Pens: McFadden, Nacewa
For Edinburgh:
Tries: De Luca
Cons: Laidlaw
Pens: Laidlaw 2
Teams:
Leinster: 15 Isa Nacewa, 14 David Kearney, 13 Fergus McFadden, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Fionn Carr, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Jamie Heaslip (captain), 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Damian Browne, 3 Nathan White, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Heinke van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Martin Moore, 19 Kevin McLaughlin, 20 Leo Auva'a, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Noel Reid, 23 Brendan Macken.
Edinburgh: 15 Tom Brown, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Greig Laidlaw (captain), 9 Chris Leck, 8 Netani Talei, 7 Roddy Grant, 6 Stuart McInally, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Esteban Lozada, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Kyle Traynor
Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Jack Gilding, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 David Denton, 21 Ross Rennie, 22 Phil Godman, 23 Jim Thompson
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Assistant referees: David Wilkinson (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
TMO: Alan Rogan (Ireland)