Exiles given a scare

London Irish joined Saracens in securing a home tie in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup with a gritty 24-11 victory over Treviso.

The Italian champions put up a brave performance - particularly after the interval - but they lacked the cutting edge to stop the Exiles reaching the knockout stages for the first time in their history.

With Peter Richards, Tomas De Vedia and Peter Hewat all crossing for tries in the opening 40 minutes, Irish ensured they finished top of their group - although director of rugby Brian Smith will not be happy with his side's second-half display.

Marius Goosen scored two penalties after the interval, while Benjamin De Jager crossed for a try with five minutes left - before Hewat's second try eased the nerves.

That meant not even Perpignan's 25-0 victory over the Dragons could thwart them - with the French side having to settle for one of the best two runners-up spots in the last eight.

Treviso had started brightly with the home side opting to spurn shots at goal to go for maximum points.

However the Exiles defence remained watertight, with the visitors slowly able to gain a foothold in the game.

The turning point came on 20 minutes, though, when Treviso prop Nicolas De Gregori was sin-binned for deliberately killing the ball.

Leaked

The Exiles opted from the scrum from the resulting penalty and although Treviso saw off the initial drive, Richards was able to nip in to score. Hewat converted.

That took the wind out of the home side's sails - and by the break they had leaked two further tries.

On 32 minutes, Shane Geraghty's quick kick from a penalty found de Vedia unmarked on the wing for the former Saracen to score. Hewat converted.

Then three minutes later Treviso were made to pay for some slack tackling as Delon Armitage broke free and released Hewat to finish off the break.

Having trailed 19-0 at the break, Treviso came out firing on all cylinders after the interval and were rewarded with two penalties from Marius Goosen.

However another yellow card to a Treviso prop - this time Salvatore Costanzo - on the hour thwarted the revival, although moving to uncontested scrums did not help the Exiles' cause.

To the home side's credit, though, they refused to give up - with their defence seeing off the threat.

And they gave the visitors a few anxious moments as Lucas Borges scythed through to set de Jager up for a try in the dying moments.

The Exiles, though, had the final word when Hewat crossed deep into injury time after a concerted spell of pressure on the hosts' line.