Leinster slip to third spot following defeat to Edinburgh

Edinburgh 11 Leinster 6

Leinster's Pro12 ambitions suffered a slight wobble after defeat to Edinburgh at a wet and windy Murrayfield last night.

The visitors at least managed to achieve a bonus point but with Ulster victorious, Leinster now slip to third place the latter and leaders, great rivals Munster.

In defeat there were encouraging displays from back rows Shane Jennings and Jordi Murphy and good contributions from the cast of front row forwards. But in the end the match hinged on one defensive slip and it was Leinster which committed the error.

After absorbing early pressure by Edinburgh, Leinster, using the high kick from Ian Madigan to good effect, began to gain territorial advantage and when the visitors worked an overlap Jordi Murphy after taking a pass from fellow backrow Shane Jennings had a charge at the line only to be foiled by the home side’s cover defence.

Edinburgh survived the two subsequent scrums but when the Scots transgressed just outside their own 22m area, Madigan was on target for the opening points of the match.

But Leinster's lead didn't last long. Edinburgh, inspired by a break from Greig Laidlaw, drove at the visitors' line. Leinster's fringe defence was solid but when the ball was spun wide a gap appeared that allowed Edinburgh outside half Greig Tonks to supply the scoring pass to winger Doug Fife.

Further pressure
Then after a period of pressure on the Leinster line the visitors conceded a penalty at the ruck giving Laidlaw a simple kick at goal to increase his side's interval lead to 8-3.

Two minutes into the second half Edinburgh were penalised for coming into the side of a ruck and again Madigan showed his goal-kicking skills to bring Leinster within two points of the home side. But three minutes later Laidlaw kicked his second goal after Leinster were penalised for not releasing in the tackle.

Leinster’s response was a period of positive rugby and good pivotal control from Madigan who twice triggered wide attacks with good passes that ended with winger Darragh Fanning being forced into touch two metres from the Edinburgh line.

The visitors had a opportunity to put further pressure on Edinburgh with a penalty kick to the corner only for Madigan to misjudge the angle allowing the home full back Jack Cuthbert to regain territory.

Jimmy Gopperth replaced Madigan but the outhalf’s first contribution was an over-cooked kick to touch. But when Laidlaw struck with the boot after his own break the ball bobbled into touch five metres from the Leinster line.

From the resultant lineout Edinburgh came close to scoring when an inside pass from Greig Tonks gave flanker Cornell de Preez a tilt at the line, glory being denied by desperate Leinster tackling.

A dynamic driving maul by the Edinburgh forwards had Leinster in trouble forcing the visitors to concede a penalty but this time Laidlaw, kicking into the wind was short with his goal attempt.

Leinster having made a number of substitutions found a late burst of energy and from a lineout in the corner the visitors launched a series of drives at the Edinburgh try-line. But it came to naught after Leinster, after being unable to breach the home defence, spilled ball close to the line giving Edinburgh a reprieve.
EDINBURGH: J Cuthbert; D Fife, N De Luca, B Atiga, T Brown; G Tonks, G Laidlaw; A Dickinson, R Ford,W Nel; G Gilchrist, O Atkins; C du Preez, R Grant, D Denton. Replacements: S Beard for Fife (32 mins), S Cox for Atkins (61mins). Not used: Lutui, Blaauw, Cross, Coman, Hart, Fenner.
LEINSTER: Z Kirchner; D Fanning, B O'Driscoll, N Reid, L Fitzgerald; I Madigan, I Boss; M Bent , A Dundon, M Moore, L Cullen, T Denton, K McLaughlin, S Jennings, J Murphy. Replacements: D Ryan for McLaughlin, J Gopperth for Madigan (both 61 mins); Q Roux for Denton (65 mins); B Macken for Fanning , T Furlong for Moore (75 mins). Not used: Tracy, J O'Connell, Cooney.
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Attendance: 3,321