Edinburgh salvage a bonus with late rally
EDINBURGH came from 15 points behind with less than 10 minutes left at the RDs to salvage a potentially vital bonus point in the battle for Champions Cup places.
sean Kennedy raced through to score to give the visitors hope, cutting the gap to 30-20. And although Jason tovey was unable to convert, Alan solomons’ men never gave up.
they were rewarded two minutes from time when a high tackle by Leinster double try scorer Fergus McFadden on Damien Hoyland presented sam Hidalgo-Clyne with an opportunity — and he made no mistake to secure a losing bonus point.
Edinburgh, looking for only their third win in the league in Dublin, made a great start and the early pressure earned a fourth-minute penalty for tovey from 25 metres.
But that was as good as it got for the visitors in the first half as they spent long periods pinned back.
tovey was penalised for not rolling away and Ian Madigan slotted an equaliser from in front of the posts after eight minutes as league leaders Leinster began to find momentum.
they edged in front with another Madigan penalty before Edinburgh eventually managed to string some possession rugby together.
However, a promising move deep inside the home half came to nothing after 18 phases when tovey was unable to take a poor pass from scrum-half Hidalgo-Clyne after 16 minutes.
Italian referee Marius Mitrea lost patience with the mounting penalty count from the visitors and Edinburgh flanker Jamie Ritchie paid the price with a yellow card six minutes from the break.
Leinster went to the left corner with the penalty and seemed poised for the opening try. Edinburgh defended well and forced them to go wide and turn over the ball with a loose pass to touch.
the reprieve was short-lived for Edinburgh as Leinster countered but the opportunity was again lost when hooker Richardt strauss knocked on just yards from the line.
that left it 6-3 at the break but Edinburgh had to face the strong wind after the restart.
Leinster struck a telling blow four minutes into the second half when a break from Luke Fitzgerald set up scrum-half Luke McGrath for a try under the posts, which Madigan converted for 13-3.
Edinburgh hit back, though, and tovey created an opening for tom Brown, who finished in style. tovey’s touchline conversion was on target but held up in the wind.
the visitors continued to press but disaster struck when Noel Reid intercepted Kennedy’s pass in midfield and he put Josh van der Flier over for Leinster’s second try, Madigan converting to make it 20-8 after 51 minutes.
Leinster went for the kill after that. Madigan went to the corner with a penalty close to the posts and, while Edinburgh did well to initially repel them, McFadden managed to go over on the right.
Edinburgh were given a lifeline when Mike Allan intercepted a pass to score, with tovey converting.
But Leinster made the game safe three minutes later when McFadden evaded Blair Kinghorn and WP Nel to grab his second try.
that left it double scores at 30-15 but Edinburgh never gave up and were rewarded with a bonus point thanks to Kennedy’s try and a late penalty from Hidalgo-Clyne.
‘that’s absolutely critical for us. to have gotten that bonus point at the end was vital,’ said solomons.
‘If I look back on the game the first thing is to give credit to the players. We had a six-two split but we lost both our centres at halftime, we had guys out of position.
‘sam needed to go on to the wing from scrum-half, Mike Allan, who is a 13/winger had to go inside centre; tommy Brown has never played 13, so we were disrupted.
‘the courage they showed was terrific. But, in the first half, we gave away far too many penalties at the breakdown. there were nine penalties, one for offside and eight were at the breakdown. that’s far too many and we paid the price.’