London Irish followed Saracens' lead by bagging their first Heineken Cup quarter-final spot - and a home draw to boot.

The Irish arrived in Italy knowing that a fourth try bonus point and a fifth win in six games would not only give them top spot in Pool 1, but also guarantee them a home quarter-final.

Coach Brian Smith obviously told his players to chase the four tries right from the off and with England scrum half Peter Richards urging his side to attack from everywhere the visitors threw caution to the wind.

Having beaten Treviso 42-9 at home in round one, Irish had the confidence to spread the ball from the start, but they ran into some spirited defence in the first quarter.

In fact, it took 22 minutes before the first points came. Having kicked a string of penalties to the touchline, Irish gained another when home prop Nicolas De Gegori dived into a ruck to kill the ball.

That left French referee Pascal Gauzere with no alternative other than to issue a yellow card and Irish skipper Bob Casey immediately opted for a scrum five metres out. His pack duly obliged with a safe strike and half turn towards the touchline and a delicate flip pass from No 8 Juan Leguizamon allowed Richards to sprint over and claim a try at the posts.

Peter Hewat added the conversion and there were two more tries to follow before the break to leave Irish on the verge of their ultimate goal.

It was Richards who paved the way for the second try as he turned a turn-over ball on half-way into an attacking penalty on the home 10 metre line for a high tackle. Shane Geraghty spotted his wing Thomas De Veida free on the right and his cross field kick was caught on the full to allow the Argentinean to race the length of the 22 for a sucker try.

Hewat added a second conversion and then converted a Delon Armitage break into try number three. The full back's conversion attempt came back off the upright.

Treviso were a different side in the second half and were far more competitive at the break down and dominated the territory in the third quarter. Skipper

Marius Goosen broke his side's duck with two penalties and then missed with a third that could have made it even more interesting.

Referee Gauzere's decision to send a second home prop, this time Salvatore Costanzo, to the sin bin upset the Treviso fans, but did not cost them in the same way as it had in the first half.

There were uncontested scrums until he returned and then Argentinean flyer Lucas Borges and Australian full back Brendan Williams combined to send Treviso's South African wing Thomas De Jager over in the left corner for a great try.

Goosen's conversion attempt was wide to leave the home side two scores behind.

That made it 11-0 to Treviso in the second half and the Irish were still short of the bonus point they craved to guarantee a home quarter-final slot.

If it hadn't looked like coming for 50 minutes, it finally arrived in the eighth minute of injury time when full back Hewat crossed.