Leinster 22 Edinburgh 16: Confident gain but no victory

Sunday 23 September 2012

A predictable result, perhaps, but still a hard one for Edinburgh to swallow.

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Michael Bradley's side were marvellously competitive throughout, even when reduced to 13 men by a double sin-binning, and with a little more luck they might well have snatched a thrilling result on the road. They salvaged a bonus point near the end, but the confidence they can take from their overall performance may turn out to be more valuable as the season unfolds.

There was certainly no lack of bite in Edinburgh's tackling, although Leinster posted early warnings to the visitors. Right from the off, Leinster were hammering away round the fringes, showing no hesitation or want of ambition in running first-phase ball. By the time Edinburgh adjusted to those strategies they were already one try down – Jonny Sexton thrusting himself over the line after just seven minutes – but they did reasonably well in the face of that onslaught and were soon raising the tempo themselves. Edinburgh might well have got a touchdown in the 22nd minute when Stuart McInally, Netani Talei and Richie Rees all carried well to take play deep into the Leinster half, but when the pressure became unbearable the pragmatic Dubliners were happy to cough up a penalty, which Greig Laidlaw duly clipped between the posts. By then, Sexton had added a conversion and penalty to his earlier try, but Laidlaw reduced the gap just after the half-hour mark with his second successful kick of the game.It would probably be pushing it to say that Bradley's players dominated the rest of the half, but they certainly had the better of it as they sent their strike runners deep into Leinster territory with menacing intent and caused something close to panic in the home side's ranks. Edinburgh were unlucky to come away with nothing from two teeming attacks just before the break, when Leinster could be thankful for the indulgence of a referee who saved their bacon with kindly penalties on both occasions.The most impressive parts of Edinburgh's game up to that point were unquestionably the accuracy of their offloading and the way they varied the point of the attack. Greig Tonks, their close-season signing from Northampton, put in another impressive shift at full-back, while Rees impressed again with his sharpness around the breakdown. They also wrapped up their opponents well in the tackle, with Stuart McInally putting in some brutal hits at blindside.Leinster threatened in fits and starts, and should really have made more of a sequence of play when they won a scrum near the Edinburgh 10m line, six minutes after the break, and sent Lions No 8 Jamie Heaslip pounding deep into the Scots' 22. Edinburgh mopped up that threat superbly, but they were ripped open by a brilliant Fion Carr run soon afterwards and conceded a penalty in their effort to protect the line. That sequence also brought a yellow card for prop John Yapp. Astonishingly, the referee then showed another to Edinburgh lock Sean Cox, a sanction that looked like a death warrant for the men in red. Leinster promptly destroyed them in the next scrum – in which Edinburgh centre Matt Scott was an improbable and presumably unwilling participant – but the visitors girded themselves and somehow saw off the danger.Yet it was almost inconceivable that Edinburgh could survive the numerical disadvantage and Leinster duly took their bounty with a try by replacement back Brendan Macken just a few minutes later. Tonks was culpable in the build-up with a horrendous missed tackle attempt on Carr, but Leinster had such an overlap that they would almost certainly have scored even without that error.Laidlaw brought things back to 15-9 with a penalty just after the hour, and things looked brighter for Edinburgh when Yapp and Cox returned to the fray. However, they left themselves badly exposed when Leinster worked a straightforward move to the left corner, and they conceded a third try when Mackin dived over for his second score in the 66th minute.However, Willem Nel raised Edinburgh hopes again when he powered over for a try four minutes later, Laidlaw adding the conversion. They fought desperately to close the gap, dominating the last few minutes, but Leinster hung on to their fragile lead.

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Leinster 22 Edinburgh 16: Confident gain but no victory

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