![\"jamison-gibson-park-dejected-after-the-match\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777173069_932_.jpeg\")
\n Leinster’s Jamison Gibson-Park dejected after the match. Roberto Bregani \/ INPHO<\/p>\n
United Rugby Championship:
\nBenetton 29
\nLeinster 26<\/p>\n
LEINSTER\u2019S PREPARATIONS FOR next weekend\u2019s Champions Cup semi-final against Toulon suffered an untimely blow as they slipped to a dramatic late defeat against Benetton in Treviso.<\/p>\n
Leo Cullen\u2019s side missed the chance to move into the URC top two and instead dropped to fourth behind the Lions after Jacob Umaga\u2019s late penalty punished Jamie Osborne\u2019s illegal clear-out and sealed a damaging defeat at the Stadio di Monigo.<\/p>\n
It was a frustrating night for Leinster, who also saw Tadhg Furlong forced off before half-time in another potential injury concern ahead of Toulon\u2019s visit to the Aviva Stadium next Saturday.<\/p>\n
A strong Leinster selection had been expected to have too much for a Benetton side heavily beaten by Munster a week earlier, but familiar inconsistencies resurfaced, particularly defensively, as Cullen\u2019s side relinquished control in the second half for the second successive week.<\/p>\n
While they rallied sufficiently to defeat Ulster in Belfast six days earlier, this time their response didn\u2019t cut the mustard.<\/p>\n
Benetton struck first when Alessandro Garbisi finished after Paolo Odogwu\u2019s offload, but Leinster responded through Conor O\u2019Tighearnaigh after a well-worked lineout move.<\/p>\n
Frawley then had a try ruled out for a forward pass in the build-up before Leinster extended their lead just before the break, Josh van der Flier finishing after another O\u2019Tighearnaigh take from Dan Sheehan\u2019s throw for a 14-5 interval advantage.<\/p>\n
Leinster looked in control when Jamison Gibson-Park combined superbly with Sheehan to score early in the second half.<\/p>\n
\n Leinster’s Jamison Gibson-Park dejected after the match. Roberto Bregani \/ INPHO<\/p>\n
Roberto Bregani \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n
But Benetton hit back through Ignacio Mendy before replacement Nicholas Gasperini powered over from a maul, with Umaga levelling the contest.<\/p>\n
Frawley restored Leinster\u2019s lead in the 65th minute after a brilliant break from Sheehan and a pass by Fintan Gunne, Sam Prendergast adding a difficult conversion for a seven-point cushion having just come into the fray.<\/p>\n
Yet Benetton, who are unlikely to make the top eight, refused to fade. Gasperini struck again from another maul five minutes from time, and Umaga\u2019s conversion drew the sides level again.<\/p>\n
The hosts then spurned one late chance when Umaga kicked a penalty to the corner, but when Osborne was penalised in the closing stages, the out-half made no mistake from the tee.<\/p>\n
Thomas Clarkson impressed off the bench, and Caelan Doris came through his return from concussion, but Cullen will have concerns as Leinster look to go one better than last year and reach the Champions Cup final.<\/p>\n
Benetton scorers:<\/strong><\/p>\n Tries<\/strong> \u2013 Garbisi, Mendy, Gasperini [2]<\/p>\n Penalties<\/strong> \u2013 Umaga [1\/1]<\/p>\n Conversions<\/strong> \u2013 Umaga [3\/4]<\/p>\n Leinster scorers:<\/strong><\/p>\n Tries<\/strong> \u2013 O\u2019Tighearnaigh, van der Flier, Gibson-Park, Frawley.<\/p>\n Conversions<\/strong> \u2013 Byrne [2\/3], Prendergast [1\/1]<\/p>\n Benetton:<\/strong> Matt Gallagher; Ignacio Mendy, Tommaso Menoncello, Malakai Fekitoa, Paolo Odogwu (Leonardo Marin, 74) ; Jacob Umaga, Alessandro Garbisi (Andy Uren, 54); Destiny Aminu (Ivan Nemer, 46), Bautista Bernasconi (Nicholas Gasperini, 54), Tiziano Pasquali (Marcus Gallorini, 46); Giulio Marini (Niccolo Cannone, 69), Riccardo Favretto; Manuel Zuliani (So\u2019otala Fa\u2019aso\u2019o, 63), Michele Lamaro (capt) (Alessandro Izekor 58), Lorenzo Cannone.<\/p>\n Leinster:<\/strong> Ciar\u00e1n Frawley; Tommy O\u2019Brien, Rieko Ioane, Jamie Osborne, Jimmy O\u2019Brien (Charlie Tector 76); Harry Byrne (Sam Prendergast, 61), Jamison Gibson-Park (Fintan Gunne, 52); Ed Byrne (J Cahir, 52), Dan Sheehan (Gus McCarthy, 71), Tadhg Furlong (Thomas Clarkson, 28); Conor O\u2019Tighearnaigh, Brian Deeny; Jack Conan (Scott Penny, 76), Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt) (Alex Soroka, 61).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"United Rugby Championship: Benetton 29 Leinster 26 LEINSTER\u2019S PREPARATIONS FOR next weekend\u2019s Champions Cup semi-final against Toulon suffered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[76],"tags":[113137,18,86056,19,17,38909,53475,2525,132,59006],"class_list":["post-454130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-benetton","tag-eire","tag-frustration","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-leinster","tag-leo-cullen","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-urc"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}