Leinster avenge October defeat

Leinster 49 Edinburgh 10

It was payback time for Leinster tonight as they avenged October’s defeat at Murrayfield by running Edinburgh ragged in a stylish six-try win at Donnybrook.

Even without their mercurial captain Brian O’Driscoll, Leinster still eased into the Heineken Cup’s quarter-finals with a round to spare, as Shane Horgan (3), Rob Kearney, Felipe Contepomi and Stephen Keogh shared out the tries.

Contepomi, making his European comeback from a knee injury, tallied up 24 points as Lynn Howells’ Scots, who had nothing but pride at stake, were played off the park.

Injuries to centres Marcus di Rollo and Matt Dey really left Edinburgh struggling.

The Pool 2 leaders started without O’Driscoll, who injured his calf when descending the stairs at his home during the week, and courtesy of Agen’s defeat of Gloucester last night, needed a win by any margin to book their spot in the last-eight.

Kearney continued where he left off last weekend, when he bagged a brace against the Ospreys, jinking his way past four players for a stunning fourth-minute opener.

A great line from Gordon D’Arcy created a two-on-one overlap out wide on the right and Kearney made full use of some lacklustre defending to charge over.

Contepomi converted and Leinster ended the first quarter on a high when their Argentinian number 10 grabbed try number two. Again D’Arcy was the catalyst, his nippy run ended just metres from the line and a flat pass from Horgan saw Contepomi dive over.

The hosts’ joy was tempered when di Rollo’s brilliant 25th-minute break, which saw the D’Arcy-Kieran Lewis centre partnership badly exposed, gave the supporting Southwell the space to ease over the try line.

Chris Paterson chopped his conversion attempt wide and two Contepomi penalties - after 32 and 35 minutes – saw Leinster end the half 20-5 in front but down to 14 men as number eight Jamie Heaslip was carded for killing the ball.

A quick turnover of possession allowed the Scots to hit back straight after the break – left winger Ben Cairns took full advantage to cross in the left corner, but again Paterson was wayward with a difficult kick.

Their lead down to 10 points and against the wind, Leinster wasted little time in reasserting their authority as after 11 phases of possession, Horgan cantered over for his first of the evening.

The final quarter, which saw the visitors lose prop Allan Jacobsen to the sin bin, brought three more tries for last season’s beaten semi-finalists. Attacking runs from Denis Hickie and Bernard Jackman allowed Keogh to cut through for a simple 64th-minute finish.

A D’Arcy incision allowed Horgan to dive in under the posts and his hat-trick score followed, seven minutes from the end, when a looping pass from Contepomi sent the big Drogheda man weaving through a shell-shocked Edinburgh defence.

End