Replacement back Brendan Macken scored two tries as Leinster claimed a 22-16 PRO12 win over Edinburgh at the RDS on Saturday.
Leinster got off to a flying start when Johnny Sexton scored the opening try of the match after 8 minutes before adding the conversion.
Sexton added to his points tally by scoring a penalty. But Edinburgh who have not won in Dublin for seven years managed to keep in touch with Greig Laidlaw securing two penalties to leave it 10-6 at the break.
Although in front, Leinster would have been nervous about the amount of unforced errors. Isa Nacewa stopped Lee Jones in a one-on-one out wide and the hosts had to scramble as Edinburgh's De Luca and Ross Ford almost secured late first-half tries.
Leinster needed something in the second half, and it came in the form of replacement centre Macken who countered from deep. With Leinster working the ball well to keep the move going Edinburgh's John Yapp's was forced to slow the game in the ruck which led to a yellow card.
The bad luck continued as lock Sean Cox was sin-binned for killing the ball. Somehow the Edinburgh scrum stopped Leinster from scoring.
But it was only a matter of time before the advantage took its toll and that man Macken went over after 57 minutes.
Sexton missed the conversion and Edinburgh responded with a Laidlaw penalty that kept them in the game.
However Man-of-the-match Macken's second try came on 66 minutes to seal victory.
Richie Rees kept Edinburgh in the game and put replacement WP Nel over in the 71st minute. Laidlaw's conversion gave the visitors a losing bonus point.
The scorers:
For Leinster:
Tries: Sexton, Macken 2
Cons: Sexton 2
Pen: Sexton
For Edinburgh:
Try: Nel
Con: Laidlaw
Pens: Laidlaw 2
Yellow cards: Yapp (Edinburgh - 50th min); Cox (Edinburgh - 52nd min)
Leinster: 15 Isa Nacewa, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Fionn Carr, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Tom Denton, 4 Leo Cullen (c), 3 Mike Ross, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Tom Sexton, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Jamie Hagan, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Jordi Murphy, 21 John Cooney, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Brendan Macken.
Edinburgh: 15 Greig Tonks, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tom Brown, 10 Greig Laidlaw (c), 9 Richie Rees, 8 Netani Talei, 7 Roddy Grant, 6 Stuart McInally, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 John Yapp.
Replacements: 16 Andy Titterrell, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Willem Nel1, 9 Robert McAlpine, 20 Dimitri Basilaia, 21 Chris Leck, 22 Harry Leonard, 23 Dougie Fife.
Referee: Neil Hennessy (Wales)
Assistant referees: Simon McDowell (Ireland), Trevor Collins (Ireland)
Television match official: Alan Rogan (Ireland)
Comments
D4tress says...
@ImLaigheanIt - they won't lose to Connacht, that much is certain,
However, they were asleep at the wheel for most of the match. They need to wake up.
Posted 11:53 24th September 2012
leinsterblue says...
great start, then it all more or less fell apart...what really worried me was so little return for the amount of possession that we had...there were some good performances - Heaslip, Mclaughlin, Macken, Cullen and Carr but as a team we seem totally lost...we have stumbled through the opening 4 games and we need to find form from somewhere really quickly...
Posted 09:38 24th September 2012
melkdave says...
Not as one sided as it would appear,Leinster really only won it because of the yellow cards.Until then Edinburgh where always pushing them ,and looking threatening every attack.As others have said not a very good performance by Leinster,or perhaps its fairer to say Edinburgh stopped them performing till the yellow cards ,gifted Leinster the game.Leister looked very undercooked ,and just a tad off the pace atm,thank you IRFU lol
Posted 14:39 23rd September 2012
crunchfit says...
Great moment at the start of the match. Was hoping for something like that.
Poorly played overall. Looks like Macken will be giving O'Malley some competition for the 13 jersey. And there's Noel Reid as well. Great to see some competition in that area.
Posted 13:10 23rd September 2012
Toulousain says...
perfect start, but then could have gone behind at end of 1st half, then had to wait for 2 yellow cards before creating any sort of a lead in the second, only to be pegged back at the end. the engine is indeed rusty.
was d'arcy leaving after 25 minutes part of the plan, or did he pick up a knock? (anyhow, not a disaster that he made way for macken....)
Posted 10:46 23rd September 2012
The_Dange says...
Lovely tribute lads, thanks from all in Ulster
Posted 21:33 22nd September 2012
ImLaigheanIt says...
This Leinster side would seriously want to wake up. That's two matches they've just about scraped home. I can see them losing to Connacht next week, unless they buck up their ideas fast.
And I'm seeing no improvement in Cronin. Every time he touches the ball I expect the worst - either he overthrows in the lineout, runs down a blind alley or lets the egg slip through his butter fingers. God help us if Strauss ever gets injured long-term.
Posted 20:21 22nd September 2012