Frawley’s Try Cancelled Out As Leinster Held To Draw By Benetton

Benetton Rugby pocketed a deserved two points from an entertaining 27-all GUINNESS PRO14 draw with Leinster in Dublin, as Tommaso Allan landed the levelling conversion of Fijian winger Iliesa Ratuva’s last-minute try.

Benetton certainly like playing at the RDS where they enjoyed a famous 17-15 win twelve months ago, and hooker Luca Bigi’s 12th-minute try was the launchpad for a 13-6 half-time lead. Italy out-half Allan kicked the other points with Noel Reid and his replacement Ciaran Frawley booting a penalty apiece for Leinster.

Leo Cullen’s men improved on the resumption and twice drew level with tries from James Lowe and replacement Bryan Byrne sandwiching Federico Ruzza’s 53rd-minute effort. The impressive Frawley slalomed over for a classy 70th-minute score, which he converted himself, but the Italians’ persistence was eventually rewarded as they moved within two points of second-placed Ulster in Conference B.

It was an attritional opening 40 minutes for Leinster who lost both Reid and Mick Kearney to injury. Only stand-in captain Luke McGrath and Scott Fardy were retained from the Champions Cup quarter-final-winning team, while Ireland Under-20 Grand Slam winner Scott Penny was a late inclusion in the back row for an ill Josh Murphy.

A couple of sloppy penalties, with Conor O’Brien and James Tracy infringing at rucks, invited the visitors forward and they hit the front from their first lineout opportunity, Bigi breaking from a maul to score to the left of the posts. Allan converted before a Reid penalty opened Leinster’s account, rewarding a fine midfield break by Barry Daly.

Leinster responded well to a well-struck Allan penalty for 10-3, full-back Daly posing a threat again before Joe Tomane was put into space on the right and scrum half McGrath was desperately close to collecting the centre’s kick over the try-line. A subsequent penalty allowed Reid’s replacement Frawley to split the posts from close range.

With scrum half Dewaldt Duvenage orchestrating things, Benetton had a couple of prolonged bouts of forward pressure approaching the interval, the home defence holding out until Allan tapped over three more points, but Leinster erased that lead just seven minutes into the second period.

McGrath’s quick tap led to man-of-the-match Max Deegan hammering up to just a few metres out, and then the scrum half’s rapid delivery from a ruck allowed Lowe to wriggle out of a double tackle and crash over to the right of the posts. Frawley equalised from the tee, but Benetton were swift to response, carrying through 25 phases before lock Ruzza barged over from close range.

A well-executed lineout drive propelled Byrne over as the momentum swung back to Leinster with just over 15 minutes remaining. They rode their luck at times, Fergus McFadden fortunate that an ‘unlucky’ clearout, in referee Nigel Owens’ words, did not result in a penalty reversal. Indeed, from that penalty to touch, a crisp backs move saw centre O’Brien’s deft pass send Frawley scurrying over for his seven-pointer.

However, there was still enough time for Benetton to build some late pressure, with a forward pass from Lowe handing them possession and field position. Leinster’s youngsters stood up to the task defensively – especially Penny, Jack Dunne and the Byrne twins – until Ratuva came in off his wing to charge over. Antonio Rizzi avoided being penalised for obstruction on the TMO review and Allan held his nerve to land the all-important conversion.

Giving his reaction after the game, Leinster head coach Cullen said: “I thought it was a really good contest and you could see how much it meant to Benetton. I thought our guys did well to deal with some of the first half disruptions when we lost a couple of players, you lose your 10 and your lineout caller. We were trying to adjust and we had a lot of young guys coming in as well.

“It was a great experience for a lot of our guys to understand what it’s like at this level. Scott Penny was in school this time last year, Ciaran Frawley hadn’t played a huge amount and this is another layer on his experience. Jack Dunne coming on in the second row and playing 60 minutes.

“It was tough out there for our guys. When you get to 27-20, you would just like to be able to close the game out. Again, it was a good experience for our guys, and even the ones who came on later. Credit to Treviso, they showed good patience at the end there. I thought it was actually quite a good defensive set but, anyway, it’s a draw and a positive experience for us.”