Improved Leinster refuse to panic

HEINEKEN CUP POOL TWO Edinburgh 16 Leinster 27: AFTER SO many nightmarish treks here, Leinster would have taken 9-6. So to come away with a bonus-point win left them close to dreamland. But you learn more from your defeats than your wins and Leinster put their lessons to good use here.

There was never a sense that they would lose their heads, and indeed the most striking example of this was when they ran down the clock for the 10 minutes when Felipe Contepomi was binned, having conceded a penalty try to put Edinburgh within two scores.

Such composure might have been beyond them on previous visits here, but there was never any sense of panic after their recent setbacks against Munster and Connacht.

In truth, it wasn't a vintage Leinster performance, and the game was not without its longueurs.

Nothing about the new IRB diktat regarding players staying on their feet and the ELVs encourages teams to take risks in their own half, and with Leinster curtailing their natural exuberance and mostly resisting the temptation to attempt the unlikely, there duly followed countless bouts of aerial ping-pong.

Not that any of this will bother Leinster. This was in many respects a classical away performance. Admittedly, they played much of the first 15 minutes in their own half when they simply hoofed the ball down the middle.

Even with the additional space afforded at scrum time, Chris Whitaker would feed Contepomi for a long punt downfield, and it was the same off lineouts.

Edinburgh played with more width, but without much effect, and even when trailing 14-3 in the 34th minute, from a scrum on their own 10 metre line, they were content to feed Phil Godman to hoof the ball down the middle into the in-goal area.

Leinster weren't helped by their difficulties at the lineout. Bernard Jackman's first throw was crooked, and Leinster lost four of their first five deliveries.

But in other respects there was a marked improvement, not least in their protection of the ball in contact. Mostly eschewing risky offloads and complicated moves, they kept it pretty tight and used their big rumblers - Rocky Elsom, Jamie Heaslip, Bernard Jackman and co - to take the ball into contact, where they also cleared out at the breakdown quicker than in recent games.

Ironically, it was the Scottish scavengers who continued to have problems at the breakdown. For once an Edinburgh back row was eclipsed and though Elsom was officially named man of the match, the gong could as easily have gone to Jamie Heaslip, whose defensive hits and strong gallops were as influential as anything in steering the tide Leinster's way. Watching him in action alongside Elsom, the thought occurred that Heaslip can now become world class as well as consistently Test class.

Shane Jennings had his best outing of the season, tackling hard, making his presence felt at the breakdown and getting hands on the ball more, though he still needs to link Leinster's play more.

Furthermore, Edinburgh's back play - all lateral running with few straight lines - did little to to commit defenders. Twice in the first quarter their wingers were tackled into touch - unforgivable really - and this was compounded by lamentable handling, including 10 unforced spillages.

This meant Leinster could keep their defensive shape - which has not been a problem - but for once they supplemented this with big hits by Elsom, Heaslip, Jennings, Devin Toner and Shane Horgan.

Not that their defensive line wasn't breached occasionally, and this briefly let Edinburgh back into the game, but the major difference between the sides was their conversion of line breaks with support runners.

The four tries with which they struck decisively in a 20-minute spell from the 18th minute were almost against the run of play but once Elsom galloped over after Girvan Dempsey's excellent steal, they cut loose.

Michael Cheika's realigned 10-12-13 axis was fully vindicated, as Contepomi used his footwork to make a rare line-break and Brian O'Driscoll ran in his first try for Leinster in 21 months.

O'Driscoll returned the favour after his footwork left Ally Hogg and Mike Blair for dead from his own 22, and was exchanging high fives with Whitaker before Contepomi scored his first try of the season, whereupon Horgan did likewise after Whitaker and Dempsey worked the space for Heaslip's blindside gallop and Dempsey's swift transfer.

This being a good time to play a vulnerable Edinburgh, Leinster should have killed an error-strewn game off more clinically in the second half and were indebted to Jackman's catch off Godman's undercooked crosskick, but for which it might have been a one-score endgame.

They won't be kidding themselves that this was anywhere near a Heineken Cup-winning performance, but this was a bountiful haul nonetheless.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 15 mins: Paterson pen 3-0; 18: Elsom try, Contepomi con 3-7; 24: O'Driscoll try, Contepomi con 3-14; 36: Contepomi try 3-19; 38: Horgan try 3-24; 40: Paterson pen 6-24 (half-time 6-24); 51: penalty try, Paterson con 13-24; 68: Paterson pen 16-24; 70: Contepomi pen 16-27.

EDINBURGH: C Paterson; M Robertson, H Southwell, N De Luca, S Webster; P Godman, M Blair (capt); A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Cross; M Mustchin, J Hamilton; S Newlands, A MacDonald, A Hogg. Replacements: J Houston for Robertson (52 mins), B Gissing for Hamilton (60 mins), C Hamilton for Newlands (73 mins), D Blair for Southwell (78 mins). Not used: A Kelly, G Kerr, G Laidlaw.

LEINSTER: G Dempsey; S Horgan, L Fitzgerald, B O'Driscoll, R Kearney; F Contepomi, C Whitaker; S Wright, B Jackman, CJ van der Linde; L Cullen (capt), D Toner; R Elsom, S Jennings, J Heaslip. Replacements: C Healy for Wright (half-time), T Hogan for Toner (65 mins), C Keane for Whitaker (69 mins), J Fogarty for Jackman (73 mins), J Sexton for Fitzgerald (79 mins). Not used: S Keogh, G Brown. Sinbinned: Contepomi (51-61 mins).

Referee: Rob Debney(RFU).