Leinster take bonus point from bogey boys
But the sense of a job well done will be quickly put to one side today as they begin preparations to take on two-time champions Wasps at the RDS on Saturday.
The Leinster coach Michael Cheika described it as “a very tricky assignment out of the way”. He now believes Wasps to be the single most potent danger in a group that also includes Castres.
“Without doubt, next weekend is going to be a really tough proposition,” said Cheika, while captain Leo Cullen is already thinking of ways to win what he believes will be an “intense” forward battle.
Both Cheika and Cullen recognised the need for improvement, Cheika pointing to Bernard Jackman’s try-saving touch-down late in the game as being very important in to Saturday’s success.
After a decent but unspectacular performance from the Leinster pack, Cullen fronted up: “We need to improve, no doubt, but we’re obviously delighted with the result. We haven’t had too many wins up here; since the draw was made we have been looking at this fixture and aiming to put things right. To come out with a win and a bonus point was great; we didn’t expect the bonus point certainly, but we took our chances.”
Cullen wasn’t quite so pleased with the overall performance of the pack. “I thought we could have had a better lineout, because we made mistakes and we will have to improve to cope with Wasps,” he admitted.
But Cullen was happy with one ten minute spell when his side were reduced to 14 men after Felipe Contepomi was sin-binned. Leinster held possession and kept Edinburgh second-guessing deep inside their territory until Rob Kearney missed a penalty and Contepomi returned.
“That was a good ten minutes, always nice to play with 14 in the opposition part of the pitch; that was one time in the match when we had very good control. We just need to have that for longer spells against Wasps. They like collision rugby, they’re very aggressive defensively and their set piece play is always pretty good. We will have to match them,” he said.
Cheika was glad to see the hunger back in his team and he paid tribute to Brian O’Driscoll (with a first Leinster try in 21 months), Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald and Girvan Dempsey.
“We forced Edinburgh into conceding a lot of turnovers; we got a couple of tries from them and took the pressure off at other times,” he said.
Edinburgh coach Andy Robinson was seething at his side’s lack of control. “Leinster didn’t quite win that game, we lost it. Our play was unacceptable and the fans didn’t deserve that. I don’t know what will happen now in this group, but it’s going to be a difficult road; we simply have to win against Castres next week,” he said.
Edinburgh dominated the opening quarter, Phil Godman kicking a penalty on 15 minutes but Leinster struck back quickly when Rocky Elsom took off on a 40m run for the opening try after turning over Edinburgh possession at a ruck.
It got better when Fitzgerald’s pass to Girvan Dempsey, clearly forward but missed by referee Rob Debney, sent Contepomi away and he found O’Driscoll with a pass, the centre racing through for a try at the posts.
O’Driscoll returned the favour to allow Contepomi race clear for the third try before Shane Horgan grabbed the fourth and that bonus point. Chris Paterson kicked a consolation penalty before the break.
Leinster’s scavenging at the rucks ensured Edinburgh never managed the quality possession required to pose any sort of challenge.
EDINBURGH: C Patterson; M Robertson, H Southwell, N De Luca, S Webster; P Godman, M Blair (capt); A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Cross; M Mustchin, J Hamilton; S Newlands, A Hogg, A MacDonald.
Replacements: J Houston for Robertson (50), B Gissing for Hamilton (60), C Hamilton for Newlands (72), D Blair for Southwell (77).
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O’Driscoll, L Fitzgerald, R Kearney; F Contepomi, C Whitaker; S Wright, B Jackman, CJ Van Der Linde; L Cullen (capt), D Toner; R Elsom, J Heaslip, S Jennings.
Replacements: C Healy for Wright (40), T Hogan for Toner (65), C Keane for Whitaker (69), J Fogarty for Jackman (73), J Sexton for O’Driscoll (78).
Referee: R Debney (England).
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
