Two tries from Luke Fitzgerald saw Leinster cruise to a 27-0 victory over Zebre and extend their lead at the top of the RaboDirect PRO12 table. Fitzgerald went over twice in the second half, adding to Noel Reid’s first-half score as Leinster racked up a seventh straight RaboDirect PRO12 win, and the margin would have been wider had Ian Madigan, celebrating his 25th birthday, brought his shooting boots. Jordi Murphy dotted down at the last to secure the bonus point and with Munster hosting Treviso on Saturday, Leinster gave themselves some breathing space at the summit. Leinster dominated the early proceedings and took the lead on eight minutes thanks to a Madigan penalty. The hosts had hoped it would be more after a driving maul took them to within inches of the line but an infringement at the breakdown saw referee Marius Mitrea award the penalty, easily converted by Madigan. On 16 minutes, Zebre were presented with the chance to draw level but a penalty from Tommaso Iannone, from just to the left of the posts, dropped just short while he also missed another soon after. Things soon got worse for Iannone when was shown a yellow card for not releasing – a sacrificial move with Leinster looking certain to score the first try of the match on 30 minutes. Madigan missed the resulting penalty but three minutes later Reid had his score after further forwards pressure from Leinster. They were held up but the ball was worked to Reid on the left and he jinked inside to dot down – Madigan again wayward from the tee, ensuring Leinster held an 8-0 lead at the break. Leinster continued on the front foot in the second half but try as they might, they couldn’t break down a resolute Zebre defence in the early stages, despite knocking on the door on plenty of occasions. The pressure from the home side eventually told just before the hour mark however when Fitzgerald dived over in the left corner after another Leinster maul was stopped just short. Madigan was on target with the extras this time and six minutes later Fitzgerald had his second score of the night and this time it was the backs who set him on his way. They went through numerous phases and Zebre simply couldn’t live with wave after wave of blue, Fitzgerald producing a tidy finish for 20-0, only for Madigan to again miss from the tee. Leinster then set about scoring the fourth try for the bonus point and it eventual came in the closing stages through Murphy, this time Madigan adding the extras to wrap up the comfortable win. Follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to our YouTube channel for extensive match highlights and sign up to our newsletter for regular updates on the RaboDirect PRO12
