Plenty of bonus points as Blues come good

Edinburgh 16 Leinster 31

Crucially, Ireland internationals Brian O’Driscoll, Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald came through the match with convincing performances after their return from injury lay-offs.

“It was great to have them back” said Leinster’s coach, Joe Schmidt. He added : “I thought Rob Kearney did very well. He won a couple of balls in the air near the start of the game. But it’s his trademark and he’s very strong in the air.

“Luke Fitzgerald did a couple of good things as well and Brian managed to last the whole game out of the three of them. That was a brave effort by him, especially as the ground was a little bit heavy.”

Leinster’s deep kick-off had Edinburgh temporarily on the ropes and forced to defend as the visitors produced several early waves of attack, which ended after O’Driscoll failed to hold an inside pass from Jonnie Sexton.

Then, from the second line-out of the match, Leinster moved the ball expertly to give Fion Carr a run but when the winger kicked ahead and Edinburgh’s defence was able to deal with the situation.

Having defended stoutly, Edinburgh showed their attacking game with exciting play initiated by out half Piers Francis, only for prop Allan Jacobsen to spill a vital pass. But at the resulting scrum Leinster were penalised, allowing Greig Laidlaw to claim three points.

The scores were quickly levelled when Sexton slotted the ball between the posts following a high tackle on O’Driscoll as the international centre threatened to split the Edinburgh defence.

Then, after Leinster had achieved a heel against the head, Edinburgh were penalised again but this time Sexton was wide of the target.

Leinster were looking sharp with ball in hand and a nervous Edinburgh side had to put in a massive number of tackles, and when Sexton flipped an inside pass to Fitzgerald the home side were again on red alert.

The move ended with Edinburgh straying offside, allowing Sexton to kick to the corner and the forwards to drive the line-out. Edinburgh number 8 David Denton was adjudged to have stopped the drive illegally, resulting in a yellow card for the Scotland back row and a penalty try for Leinster easily converted by Sexton.

Leinster quickly used their one-man advantage to launch an attack from the restart and when Sean Cronin prised open the Edinburgh defence, the ball was spun wide for Gordon D’Arcy to stroll over for his side’s second try, again converted by Sexton.

Then, right on half-time, Leinster were penalised at the contact area, giving Laidlaw his second goal of the evening to cut the deficit to 17-6.

Leinster were into an immediate attacking mindset a the beginning of the second half as Sexton found touch just a metre from the Edinburgh line. But the home side took a quick throw and relieved pressure on themselves.

Minutes later, after a penalty kick to the corner by Sexton, Leinster attacked from the ensuing line-out. Devin Toner made the initial surge and when the ball was moved right Cian Healy appeared to stretch his arm out to dot the ball down for a try. However, the referee had spotted an earlier crossing offence and Edinburgh were again handed a reprieve.

Edinburgh’s misfortunes were made worse with an injury to the league’s top scorer, Tim Visser, following his tackle on Carr. But a drop goal by outside half Piers Francis helped to revive confidence in the home side.

However, it was soon dented when, following some vintage handling, replacement Shane Jennings dummied his way through the Edinburgh defence before off-loading to Sexton for an impressive try, which the outside half converted for a 24-9 lead.

Spurred on by the prospect of an embarrassing scoreline Edinburgh galvanised themselves into an attacking force but their attempt to get the ball over the line was thwarted by illegal poaching from Jamie Heaslip that earned the Leinster back row a spell in the sin-bin.

But, far from being disadvantaged, Leinster launched themselves at the Edinburgh line and replacement Ian Madigan plunged over for the bonus point try, converted by Sexton.

A late try for Edinburgh by prop Willem Nel and the conversion by Francis made the scoreline look better for Edinburgh but it was Leinster who were the masters on the night.

Edinburgh scorers: Tries: Nel. Cons: Francis. Pens: Laidlaw 2. Drop Goals: Francis.

EDINBURGH: Tonks, Fife, Scott, Atiga, T. Visser, Francis, Laidlaw, Jacobsen, Titterrell, Nel, Gilchrist, Cox, McInally, Basilaia, Denton.

Replacements: King for Atiga (41), Rees for T. Visser (47), Hislop for Jacobsen (61), Lawrie for Titterrell (61), Cross for Nel (74), Grant for McInally (46), Parker for Basilaia (55).

Leinster scorers: Tries: Penalty, D’Arcy, J. Sexton, Madigan. Cons: J. Sexton 4. Pens: J. Sexton.

LEINSTER: R. Kearney, Carr, O’Driscoll, D’Arcy, Fitzgerald, J. Sexton, Reddan, Healy, Cronin, Ross, Cullen, Toner, McLaughlin, O’Brien, J. Heaslip.

Replacements: Conway for R. Kearney (61), Boss for D’Arcy (68), Madigan for Fitzgerald (62), van der Merwe for Healy (61), Dundon for Cronin (68), Bent for Ross (62), Denton for Toner (58), Jennings for McLaughlin (47).

Referee: Ian Davies (WRFU).