THE Leinster coach Joe Schmidt looked back on his European champions' jittery victory on Saturday over 13-man Edinburgh in Dublin and backed the gritty Scots to be in the hunt for Pro12 silverware.
The visitors had looked destined to be on the end of a thrashing when two players were yellow-carded in quick succession, but they dug deep to salvage a consolation point and even went close to snatching a dramatic win.
The outcome left the travelling fans wondering what might have been had coach Michael Bradley not taken a gamble by resting Tim Visser, now regarded as the deadliest finisher in the northern hemisphere.
"Edinburgh made it really nerve-wracking for us," admitted a relieved Schmidt, "they put pressure on us all the way. We knew they would come with a lot of resolve and they certainly backed up my opinion that they are a more powerful squad than last season, when they reached the Heineken Cup semi-finals. They look like a team who will be there or thereabouts when it comes to the title play-offs."
Edinburgh vice-captain Roddy Grant confessed to having mixed emotions when the final whistle sounded at the RDS. He declared: "Of course, we are extremely disappointed with the loss, but we showed a lot of guts to earn a point against the best team in Europe after being down to 13 for 10 minutes."
The pivotal passage of play came just after the restart, when prop John Yapp and lock Sean Cox were sent to the sin-bin for killing the ball close to their own line.
Even the most diehard Edinburgh supporters were resigned to seeing an avalanche of points, but somehow their side staved off a full-blown capitulation, and with a little more poise and good fortune, Bradley's troops could have pulled off a remarkable smash-and-grab act.
They had fallen behind when playmaker Jonny Sexton rattled up 10 points from a try, conversion and penalty.
Captain Greig Laidlaw eased the Gunners back into the contest with two penalties before the break, but then came the double-yellow and it was no surprise when Brendan Macken cruised in for Leinster's second score.
Laidlaw banged over another penalty to repair some of the damage midway through the half, but when Macken completed his double there seemed to be no way back. However, Willem Nel ploughed over from close quarters to set up a tense finale.
Scorers. Leinster. Try: Sexton, Macken 2. Con: Sexton 2. Pen: Sexton
Edinburgh. Try: Nel. Con: Laidlaw. Pen: Laidlaw 3
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