Edinburgh swatted aside after bright start in Ireland
EDINBURGH fell victim to a rampant second-half display from Leinster, but Duncan Hodge’s side will feel they made it too easy for their hosts.
Both Barry Daly and Joey Carbery scored two tries each, but Edinburgh should have been much closer to Leo Cullen’s side as a number of patient firsthalf forays into their 22 went unrewarded. Duncan Weir scored all of Edinburgh’s points including a fine try nine minutes from time when George Turner offloaded to him, but overall it was a disappointing night for the Scots.
The loss of Dominic Ryan and Josh Van Der Flier from the Leinster back-row had an adverse impact on the home side, but even before the duo were forced off injured, Edinburgh had looked promising.
The hosts went ahead after ten minutes when, from an Edinburgh scrum around half-way, a powerful shove from the home pack sent the visitors on the back foot, and from the next ruck the ball squirted out the side to replacement Dan Leavy – eventually Carbery’s looped pass skipped three men in the line and Daly scored in the corner. But until the break, it was the visitors who impressed the most. It is a credit to Leinster’s own defensive effort that they remained intact as they looked ragged on a few occasions, only for big tackles to deny their visitors a try.
There was some reward for Edinburgh though as Weir kicked a 35th minute penalty when Zane Kirchner was penalised for failing to roll away from the tackle area, but that only closed the gap to five points again after Carbery had given Leinster an 8-0 lead moments earlier.
The missed chances against Munster and Ulster were significant in their last two games, but Edinburgh have not had as good a chance to cross for a try as the one that went unclaimed just before half-time. Weir kicked a penalty won at a scrum in to the corner and after their maul was halted, a long pass form Chris Dean looked to have sent Tom Brown over. But the winger knocked on with the try-line gaping and they had to be satisfied with an 8-3 deficit at the break.
Brown appeared to pick up an injury during that effort and was replaced by Blair Kinghorn at half-time, while Derek Affiah made his second appearance of the night in place of Jack Cosgrove, but even with those changes there was no change in fortunes.
Seven minutes into the second-half the home side scored their second try of the night. An impressive rolling maul with James Tracy at the tail looked to be heading for the try-line only to fall short, but after a handful of phases Edinburgh were unable to stop Ross Byrne and Carbery linking and the starting No 10 stretched to score. Carbery was again off target with the conversion, but Leinster’s injury jinx hit again in the 52d minute when Kirchner was forced off, which left scrum-half Luke McGrath on the wing for the rest of the game.
But immediately McGrath was in the thick of the action on the right and he linked with Jamison Gibson-Park, who send Carbery in for his second try.
And there was no let up with a 20-3 lead either. A wonderful flat pass from Gibson-Park sent Daly in for his second try, which sealed the bonus point for the home side. Leavy scored a fifth try for Leinster with 13 minutes remaining and Bryan Byrne added a sixth, but in the end it was easier than it should have been for Leo Cullen’s troops.
Scorers Leinster Tries Pen
D Leavy, B Byrne. (3).
Edinburgh Try Leinster
D Weir. D Weir. D Weir. Z Kirchner (J Gibson-Park 52); D Kearney (A Byrne h-t), R O’Loughlin (R Byrne h-t), N Reid, B Daly; J Carbery, L McGrath; P Dooley (A Porter 59), J Tracy, M Ross (M Bent 44); R Molony, M McCarthy (B Byrne 64); D Ryan (D Leavy 10 HIA), J van der Flier (M Kearney 14), J Conan.
Edinburgh
G Bryce; D Hoyland, C Dean, P Burleigh (J Tovey 53), T Brown (B Kinghorn h-t); D Weir, S Hidalgo-Clyne (N Fowles 59); J Cosgrove (D Appiah 18-26 & h-t), N Cochrane (G Turner 50), M McCallum (N Beavon 74); F MacKenzie (G Gilchrist 59), B Toolis (L Carmichael 59); M Bradbury, J Ritchie, C Du Preez.
Ian Davies (WRU).
Referee
B Daly (2), J Carbery (2), J Carbery. R Byrne
Con Cons Pen