Edinburgh kept a lacklustre Leinster scoreless in the second-half to see through a 28-11 win over the reigning champions at BT Murrayfield on Friday night.
A disappointing evening at BT Murrayfield. #EDIvLEI pic.twitter.com/xbAESIATgO
— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) March 22, 2024
The result means that Leinster have now lost three matches in the regular season, but on the positive side a host of players got a run out for the visitors.
Leinster got off to a near perfect start with Ciaran Frawley knocking over a sixth-minute penalty, after being moved to 10 with Ross Byrne missing the game through injury.
The visitor’s night got better when Edinburgh lock Fraser McKenzie upended Noel Reid in a tackle and was sent to the sin bin.
Leinster took full advantage when Sean Cronin busted over the line from a maul off a line-out. The extras were missed by Frawley, but it left Leinster leading 8-0 after 15 minutes.
It was all Edinburgh following that, with WP Nel getting over in the 29th minute and Jaco Van der Walt hit over the conversion to leave a point in it.
Leinster were four in front when Frawley knocked over another penalty, however that was the end of Leinster’s scoring for the night as Edinburgh took over.
The away side conceded a penalty try just before half-time after collapsing a ruck leaving it at 14-11 come the interval.
Minutes into the second-half, Dan Leavy was awarded a yellow card as his side continued to concede penalties inside their own 22 with Edinburgh continuing to pressurise.
Edinburgh took full advantage of the extra man with Ross Ford touching down. Van der Walt converted from the touchline and it was a 10-point game.
The hosts claimed their bonus point in the 61st minute when Viliame Mata got in for their fourth try, Simon Hickey kicked the extras this time to make it 28-11.
That was how it ended on a disappointing night for the men in blue.
After the game Leinster head coach Leo Cullen tried to remain positive despite the poor result but acknowledged that his team gave away too many penalties.
“We had a lot of young guys come into the group. It was tough, Edinburgh played quite a smart tactical game. I thought we had some chances in the game that we didn’t quite execute on. Edinburgh put a lot of squeeze on us, we gave away quite a number of penalties for various different offences which put us under a lot of pressure,” he said.
The result brings Edinburgh right back into
contention for a play-off spot, while Leinster have already topped the table
and will now look towards their Champions Cup quarter-final showdown with
rivals Ulster in the Aviva Stadium next weekend.
Player Ratings:
Jimmy O’Brien (5)
Fergus McFadden (4)
Noel Reid (4)
Joseph Tomane (6)
Barry Daly (4)
Ciaran Frawley (6)
Luke McGrath (5)
Ed Byrne (5)
Sean Cronin (6)
Michael Bent (5)
Josh Murphy (6)
Mick Kearney (6)
Rhys Ruddock (6)
Dan Leavy (4)
Max Deegan (7)
Replacements (5)
