Fergus McFadden: Scored one of eight Leinster tries
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Leinster were in a rampant mood as they ran in eight tries in their 54-13 win over Edinburgh in Dublin on Friday.
After an evenly-contested opening, Fergus McFadden's penalty attempt caused chaos in the Edinburgh defence as it cannoned of the left-hand upright, allowing Shane Jennings the simple task of touching it down for the first try of the game.
The Scots did not take long to reply though as the pack rumbled to within metres of the opposition posts before fly-half Greig Laidlaw released Nick De Luca to stroll over untouched out wide on the right-hand side.
De Luca's try seemed to sting Leinster into action as Isa Nacewa launched an incisive counter attack from full-back before supplying David Kearney to canter down the right wing and feed McFadden on his inside to score.
McFadden then added three points with his only successful attempt of the first half.
And just as the half was drawing to a close, good work from the forwards in the opposition twenty-two laid the platform for scrum-half Isaac Boss to find hooker Sean Cronin, who crashed over to score from short range and make it 18-7 at the break.
Leinster maintained their momentum early in the second half too as winger Ffion Carr gathered in a cross-field kick from Ian Madigan to secure a bonus point for the Irishmen with their fourth try of the evening.
Laidlaw reduced the deficit slightly with a couple of penalties but Nacewa replied with one of his own before extending the lead even further with a stunning try, coming from deep to burst onto a pass from Boss and streak away from his opposite number.
Leinster were in no mood to let up and substitute Leo Auva'a had only been on the pitch for a matter of minutes when he finished off a powerful rolling maul from the home pack.
Fellow replacement Brendan Macken added a seventh as well after Gordon D'Arcy had made an exceptional break from well inside his own half and laid the ball on a plate for him to sprint over in the right-hand corner.
And Devin Toner added even more gloss to the scoreline as he raced onto a short pass from Richardt Strauss to take the total past 50 points and reaffirm Leinster's position firmly atop the RaboDirect PRO12 table.
The scorers:
For Leinster:
Tries: Jennings, McFadden, Cronin, Carr, Nacewa, Auva'a, Toner, Macken
Con: Nacewa 2, Madigan 2
Pens: McFadden, Nacewa
For Edinburgh:
Try: De Luca
Con:Laidlaw
Pens: Laidlaw 2
The teams:
Leinster: 15 Isa Nacewa, 14 David Kearney, 13 Fergus McFadden, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Fionn Carr, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Jamie Heaslip (c), 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Damian Browne, 3 Nathan White, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Heinke van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Martin Moore, 19 Kevin McLaughlin, 20 Leo Auva'a, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Noel Reid, 23 Brendan Macken.
Edinburgh: 15 Tom Brown, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Greig Laidlaw (c), 9 Chris Leck, 8 Netani Talei, 7 Roddy Grant, 6 Stuart McInally, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Esteban Lozada, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Kyle Traynor
Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Jack Gilding, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 David Denton, 21 Ross Rennie, 22 Phil Godman, 23 Jim Thompson.
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon
Comments
Crunchfit says...
No worries.
Posted 14:39 15th April 2012
damo says...
Alan Quinlan had a really good article in the Indo saying Ireland need a 7s team and he is 100% right I hope he follows his up as we see Cuthbert from Wales came throught the 7s circut, for Ireland we should have a 7s team including Carr (Leinster)/O'Halloran (Connaught)/Ryan(Leinster), Conway (Leinster), Marshall (Ulster), Nagle (Munster), Deasy and Holland (Munster) and a few more, all bar Marshall are not playing with any regularity and are potentially world class!!! Conway/Nagle/O'Halloran in particular have to be future stars of the game and should be on the 7s stage to get used to it!!!!!!! no disrespect to the others who all have class also
.....
Posted 11:11 15th April 2012
melkdave says...
@ALL
To clarify i mean the score looks like they just gave up .Not that they did SORRY about that
Posted 18:06 14th April 2012
leinster_goy says...
@schmidtyforpres
totes agree about madders. imagine if berquist had not gotten injured at the start of the year? this season has been a real learning experience for him and last night's performance was a great demonstration of the progress he's made
he's showing good promise but i feel the longer madders can be kept away from the irish set-up the better. i don't want yet another leinster player having his confidence knocked, perhaps irreperably, by a sub-standard national coach. we're building something special here which not to be ruined
by the way, who's this lock that leinster signed last week? "denton" or something? is the guy irish, or just irish-qualified?
Posted 17:18 14th April 2012
crunchfit says...
@melkdave
They didn't give up. Not sure how you figured that. All the players were up for it right til the end.
Posted 16:55 14th April 2012
schmidtyforpres says...
Madigan once again proved his worth. Really hope he gets a shot with Ireland. Surely he's the future and not a 35 year old Ronan O'Gara. Would actually like to see Madigan at 12 in a game to see how he gets on. Great to see Joe Schmidt bringing some great Irish talent through. I also reckon some of the foreign imports are doing our young lads great. Really hope the IRFU sees what they bring to the set up and rethinks the set up of their limit going forward. Isa Nacewa has been a great servant to Leinster rugby and should be used as an example.
Posted 16:19 14th April 2012
papachinzo says...
@melkdave
Edinburgh actually played alright, and they never gave up playing... Their scrum and line out we're awful though, and Leinster kept knocking the ball on. I'd say the possession stats we're 55/45.
This game was part of their Semi final prep, I doubt they would have gone out with your mindset.
Posted 16:15 14th April 2012
melkdave says...
The thing to remember is ,this was a dead rubber for Edinburgh even if they where at full strength..They had absolutly nothing to play for and after their heroics against Toulouse a Lienster win was always on the cards.The scale of the defeat is worrying though it looks like they just gave up after Lienster got infront and to be honest.Just isnt good enough for a proffesional outfit .Its one reason attendances have been declining in Scotland and Wales alot of games just dont matter with automatic HC qualification and no relegation .Players can get away with sub par performances .The Pro 12 needs a major overhaul or rugby in Scotland and Wales will continue to stuggle to attract fans for these bread and butter games
Posted 15:40 14th April 2012
adamk says...
@Planetrugby Macken's try was from a Noel Reid break, not a Darcy break.
Agreed damo, Darcy wasn't the best, there was a point where he had oodles of space outside of two defenders from 5 yards out from the try line, he would've burnt them usually but oddly tried to step inside, then thought against it and just straightened up and got demolished in the tackle. Coughed up the ball too. He defo had a better day against Cardiff...
I'd still start him against Clermont tho. Go figure.
Posted 12:39 14th April 2012
rockman says...
What pleased me about the game aside from Leinsters second string finding a second gear was the linesman over ruling the ref for jennings's try. The ref called foe the TMO and then the linesman stepped in and said no need, its a try. Don't get me wrong i think the TMO can be great in close games but refs have taken to use them for nothing. this is not what it was introduced for.
Posted 12:29 14th April 2012
crunchfit says...
@damo
He killed an opportunity or two out wide with his straight running (where he rarely makes ground). He just isn't cutting it any more I'm sorry to say.
Posted 12:17 14th April 2012
NHsaints says...
Hmm well Edinburgh were never going to win that...ever since Leinster beat Tolouse last year in the HC the european super power has been moving to ireland (more specifically leinster and Ulster) I mean what are you supposed to do against a team that can drive a penalty out of the Northampton scrum, win the large majority of their lineouts and have backs who are all of international standards.
Posted 10:06 14th April 2012
damo says...
Darcy was hopeless and yet again didn't score
Posted 10:00 14th April 2012
papachinzo says...
wow... A 2nd string Leinster squad, ran 8 tries past a fully strength Edinburgh side... Semi Finals should be interesting!?
Posted 01:59 14th April 2012
curates_egg says...
What was up with McFadden's kicking. He had one of the best kicking percentages in the league before tonight?
Looking forward to the highlights. Missed the match as was training.
Posted 23:43 13th April 2012
kid_diablo says...
one more league point and leinster are guaranteed number 1 spot ( it would require leinster getting nothing from their last two games and ospreys getting 3 bonus point wins and better p/d to change that ).
Posted 23:05 13th April 2012