With 82 minutes on the clock, Leo Cullen may have been satisfied to leave the Stadio di Monigo with three points, enough to move his squad back into third place behind new leaders the Stormers and Glasgow Warriors.<\/p>\n
Instead, they had to be content with two points and a drop to fourth, behind the Lions, after Jacob Umaga punished Jamie Osborne\u2019s illegal clear out by splitting the posts with a late penalty to cap a dramatic second half.<\/p>\n
A strong Leinster side had been expected to brush aside a Benetton team heavily beaten by Munster a week earlier. Instead, hopes of a fifth consecutive victory faded in disappointment, while Tadhg Furlong became the latest frontrow concern for Cullen ahead of Toulon\u2019s arrival at the Aviva Stadium next Saturday, with a place in the Champions Cup final at stake.<\/p>\n
At least Thomas Clarkson\u2019s accomplished contribution off the bench offered some comfort, while captain Caelan Doris came through just over an hour on his return from concussion.<\/p>\n
However, this was another performance marked by familiar inconsistencies, particularly defensive frailties on the edges and vulnerability around their defence of the maul, while Harry Byrne will have been disappointed with his display at outhalf.<\/p>\n
![\"Leinster's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/TMTTMKUIRTCWN525IWAYR4PH6Y.jpg\")
Leinster’s Harry Byrne. Photograph: Roberto Bregani\/Inpho <\/p>\n
Cullen will be worried that, for the second successive week, Leinster relinquished control during the second half. While they recovered sufficiently to win in Belfast last weekend, two tries from Benetton replacement Nicholas Gasperini and Umaga\u2019s assured goal-kicking cost the visitors at least a draw in Treviso.<\/p>\n
Leinster, unbeaten in this fixture since 2010, were under pressure from the outset and required an early defensive intervention from Ciar\u00e1n Frawley and Ed Byrne to prevent Lorenzo Cannone scoring under the posts in the second minute.<\/p>\n
Tommy O\u2019Brien then used his pace to deny Umaga a try on the counter but, from the ensuing goal-line dropout, Paolo Odogwu produced a deft offload to Alessandro Garbisi and the scrumhalf crossed for the opening try.<\/p>\n
Leinster responded quickly. Fresh from signing a new contract, Conor O\u2019Tighearnaigh finished a well-constructed move that began when he secured Dan Sheehan\u2019s lineout throw inside the Benetton 22. Harry Byrne\u2019s conversion edged the visitors in front.<\/p>\n
There was further frustration for Leinster when Frawley thought he had gone over for the second try, only for TMO Christopher Allison to highlight a forward pass from Jack Conan to Jimmy O\u2019Brien in the build-up and it was disallowed.<\/p>\n
More concern followed when Furlong was withdrawn, but Leinster should have scored from another incursion into the Benetton 22. Tommaso Menoncello intervened when Tommy O\u2019Brien forced an ambitious pass towards Jamison Gibson-Park.<\/p>\n
![\"Leinster's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WTGDDMOJBZO63JC3KS7MAYJKDQ.jpg\")
Leinster’s Jamison Gibson-Park. Photograph: Roberto Bregani\/Inpho <\/p>\n
Their second try eventually arrived in the 38th minute. A high tackle allowed Harry Byrne to kick to the corner, O\u2019Tighearnaigh again collected Sheehan\u2019s throw and Doris\u2019s charge was finished by backrow colleague Josh van der Flier. Harry Byrne converted for a 14-5 lead that could have been greater, but Leinster misfired from a lineout move deep in Benetton territory with the clock in the red.<\/p>\n
Gibson-Park combined brilliantly with Sheehan three minutes after the restart as the scrumhalf extended Leinster\u2019s advantage. But in the 50th minute the pacy Ignacio Mendy beat Gibson-Park on the outside to score, before Gasperini finished an effective lineout maul move. Umaga\u2019s conversion levelled matters.<\/p>\n
Sheehan responded with a superb break in the 65th minute and replacement scrumhalf Fintan Gunne\u2019s long pass sent Frawley over for the try bonus point for Leinster, with Sam Prendergast landing a difficult conversion for a seven-point cushion.<\/p>\n
But Benetton, in their final home game of a disappointing season that will likely see them finish outside the top eight, were far from done. Their sustained pressure was rewarded when Gasperini struck again from a lineout maul with five minutes remaining.<\/p>\n
Umaga held his nerve to restore parity and, although Benetton failed to profit from a 75th-minute penalty kicked to the corner rather than at goal, when Osborne was penalised late on Umaga seized his chance.<\/p>\n
Several Leinster players failed to seize theirs on the night and that will be confirmed in Cullen\u2019s team selection for Toulon.<\/p>\n
Scoring sequence: 9 mins Garbisi try 0-5; 12 mins O\u2019Tighearnaigh try, Byrne con 5-7; 37 mins van der Flier try, Byrne con 5-14; 43 mins Gibson-Park try 5-19; 48 mins Mendy try 10-19, Umaga con 12-19; 61 mins Gasperini try, Umaga con 19-19; 66 mins Frawley try, Prendergast con 19-26; 70 mins Gasperini try, Umaga con 26-26; 83 mins Umaga pen 29-26.<\/p>\n
Benetton: Matt Gallagher; Ignacio Mendy, Tommaso Menoncello, Malakai Fekitoa, Paolo Odogwu; Jacob Umaga, Alessandro Garbisi; Destiny Aminu, Bautista Bernasconi, Tiziano Pasquali; Giulio Marini, Riccardo Favretto; Manuel Zuliani, Michele Lamaro (capt), Lorenzo Cannone. Replacements: Marcus Gallorini for Pasquali and Ivan Nemer for Aminu (both 46 mins), Nicholas Gasperini for Bernasconi, Andy Uren for Garbisi (both 54 mins), Alessandro Izekor for Lamaro (58 mins), So\u2019otala Fa\u2019aso\u2019o for Zuliani (63 mins), Niccolo Cannone for Marini (69 mins), Leonardo Marin for Odogwu (74 mins).<\/p>\n
Leinster: Ciar\u00e1n Frawley; Tommy O\u2019Brien, Rieko Ioane, Jamie Osborne, Jimmy O\u2019Brien; Harry Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Ed Byrne, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Conor O\u2019Tighearnaigh, Brian Deeny; Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt). Replacements: Thomas Clarkson for Furlong (28 mins), Fintan Gunne for Gibson-Park, Jerry Cahir for E Byrne (both 52 mins), Sam Prendergast for H Byrne, Alex Soroka for Doris (both 61 mins), Gus McCarthy for Sheehan (71 mins), Scott Penny for Conan, Charlie Tector for O\u2019Brien (76 mins).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"URC: Benetton 29 Leinster 26 Plenty more questions for under-par Leinster to ponder as they move into Champions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,11287,6398,112,14881],"class_list":["post-417634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-leinster-rugby","tag-match-report","tag-sports","tag-united-rugby-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}