Edinburgh 32 Leinster 24:LEINSTER'S miserable start to the season continued in Edinburgh last night as they fell meekly to a third defeat away from home and even missed out on a bonus point.
They had been forced into a switch before kick-off with Jonny Sexton withdrawing earlier in the day and perhaps it was a bad omen when his replacement, Isa Nacewa, started proceedings with a kick-off that failed to go 10 metres. For the rest of the night Leinster failed to make the hard yards needed to douse an Edinburgh team desperate for its first win in this fifth week of the Magners League.
Leinster were 9-3 in front after just 13 minutes, Nacewa responding to an early Chris Paterson penalty with two of his own and Rob Kearney chipping in with a storming 55-metre effort that marked his 100th Leinster appearance in style.
But a misfiring lineout and ill-discipline in the opening stages was to puncture Leinster momentum, and Edinburgh’s confidence grew. They were well led by Roddy Grant, and they opened the scoring with a good try in the 23rd minute. Scott MacLeod had been held up over the line initially, but from the scrum a reverse pass from Mike Blair found Geoff Cross, the tighthead prop, and he dived over between the posts, Paterson converting to put the home side 10-9 up.
It was a cold night in Edinburgh and Leinster looked frozen. Nacewa slotted another penalty, but Edinburgh finished the half with a solid spell of pressure and only a blend of fine defence, notably a tackle by Luke Fitzgerald that denied Tim Visser in the left-hand corner, and Edinburgh incompetence, with Paterson missing a penalty, allowed Leinster to remain ahead at the break.
The second half continued in similar fashion, Paterson missing the target again with a penalty, this time from over 40 metres. Edinburgh then lifted the intensity of their attack and after seeming to squander an overlap they finished with their scoring sensation Visser spinning superbly in Shane Horgan’s tackle on the touchline to get the ball down in the left-hand corner. Paterson missed the conversion.
The fullback then carved Leinster open up the middle of the field and, though Kearney got back, patient play on the Leinster line ended with Mark Robertson being released in space and rounding the cover to score.
The Blairs, David and Mike, at half-back then took a massive gamble and it effectively sealed the victory. They had a penalty coming but as players milled around, scrumhalf Mike took a quick tap and fed his younger brother, who dummied wide and darted in for the fourth try and bonus point. The stand-off converted from the left touchline to put Edinburgh into a 29-12 lead on the hour, which proved to be unassailable.
Finally Leinster awoke, but now it was their turn to enjoy a good period of possession and come up with nothing. In fact, a steal by Rennie led to a breakout and only a last-gasp tackle by flanker Dominic Ryan denied Visser another try. A Blair penalty extended the hosts’ lead before Jamie Heaslip finally opened Leinster’s try account with 10 minutes left, taking a pass close-in from Fitzgerald, Nacewa converting. Kearney slid in for a last-minute score, but Ian Madigan’s wildly off-target conversion ensured they left Edinburgh with nothing.
EDINBURGH: C Paterson; M Robertson, B Cairns, A Grove, T Visser; D Blair, M Blair; A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Cross, E Lozada, S MacLeod, S Newlands, R Rennie, R Grant (capt). Replacements: J Houston for Grove (45mins), T Brown for Paterson (57 mins), A Kelly for Ford, C Hamilton for MacLeod (both 63 mins), G Laidlaw for M Blair, K Traynor for Jacobsen (both 66), J Gilding for Cross (70 mins).
LEINSTER: R Kearney; S Horgan, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, L Fitzgerald; I Nacewa, E Reddan; H van der Merwe, R Strauss, M Ross, E O?Donoghue, D Toner, D Ryan, S Jennings (capt), S Keogh. Replacements: M Galarza for ODonoghue (35 mins), C Healy for van der Merwe, J Heaslip for Keogh (both 51 mins), I Boss for Reddan (60 mins), S Shawe for Ross, J Harris-Wright for Strauss (both 66), I Madigan for Nacewa (70 mins), S Jennings for O’Malley (75 mins)
Referee: T Hayes (WRU).
