Boffelli gets late try as Edinburgh crumble

Leinster Edinburgh

EMILIANO BOFFELLI scored a consolation try but Edinburgh left Dublin yet again on the back of another heavy defeat to Leinster in the URC.

Edinburgh have now lost 19 times in a row in the Irish capital and a familiar story was unfolding when they trailed 14-0 at half-time in the RDS despite a really positive start.

Connor Boyle’s sin-binning proved costly and tries from Scott Penny and Nick McCarthy put Leinster in charge.

Vakh Abdaladze added Leinster’s third try and Max Deegan touched down for the bonus point before Boffelli scored.

Mike Blair’s side were on a six-game unbeaten run in this competition before they lost to Ospreys last time out and they started well.

Boffelli went close to scoring at the end of the first relentless attack, and after he was stopped short Mesulame Kunavula forced the TMO into action, but he was penalised for doublemovement when he looked to have scored a try in the ninth minute.

Leinster survived and Edinburgh openside flanker Boyle was shown a yellow card for a head-on-head collision with Ciarán Frawley.

Leinster capitalised moments later when their No.7, Penny, touched down under the posts after a few drives at the Edinburgh line in the 20th minute. Ross Byrne added the simple conversion.

Edinburgh struggled to regain the ascendency after going behind and the hosts scored again eight minutes before half-time. Deegan and Josh Murphy were involved in the build-up and McCarthy sniped to score, with Byrne again scoring the extras.

It was a 14-0 advantage now and although they had one last chance at the end of the half, the lineout was knocked on and Edinburgh survived.

Just like the first half, Edinburgh were brilliant on the resumption and loosehead prop Boan Venter came close to a fourth try in two games.

And it was Leinster who scored again in the 67th minute when Devin Toner claimed a lineout and Abdaladze pounced. Leinster only had to wait four more minutes for a bonus point with Deegan scoring the crucial fourth effort.

Boffelli made no mistake with the consolation score five minutes from the end of yet another difficult night in Dublin.