Daire Walsh reports from the RDS
DESPITE A SPIRITED fightback from Edinburgh in the closing stages of an intriguing encounter, Leinster came away with their second bonus-point triumph in the space of seven days in the United Rugby Championship at the RDS on Saturday.
Having recorded a 34-13 success at the expense of The Sharks on the previous weekend, Leo Cullen’s charges were looking to build further momentum in front of 14,434 spectators at the Ballsbridge venue.
Tries from Lee Barron, Max Deegan, Ciaran Frawley, Tommy O’Brien and James Culhane had them in a commanding position heading into the final-quarter of this URC bout, but late tries from Connor Boyle and Boan Venter will leave them with plenty to reflect upon ahead of their visit to Dragons tomorrow week.
Whereas Leinster are still to welcome back their Irish contingent, Edinburgh’s match day 23 contained 11 players that were part of the Scotland squad for the Rugby World Cup in France. This included Tipperary native Ben Healy, who was the starting out-half for Munster in their URC semi-final victory over Leinster at the Aviva Stadium a little under six months ago.
With a strong wind blowing against the visitors in the first half, the former Ireland U20s international opted for touch rather than the posts off a couple of early penalties inside the opposition half. Yet the Leinster whitewash remained unbreached during this juncture and a couple of significant surges from Jordan Larmour subsequently put them on the front-foot.
However, the Edinburgh defence also held firm under pressure and they ultimately opened the scoring when Healy slotted a penalty from a left-hand angle between the posts on 18 minutes.
While this was an early boost for Sean Everitt’s men, their lead proved to be a short-lived one. Leinster were back in the Edinburgh 22’ after Harry Byrne kicked a penalty to touch on the right-wing and although he had to await the result of a TMO referral, hooker Barron bagged his second try of the season with a powerful finish off the ensuing line-out move.
Byrne supplemented this score with a successful conversion and with Edinburgh lock Glen Young finding himself in the sin-bin just past the half-hour mark, Leinster inevitably secured another five-pointer.
Following a couple of five-metre drives that didn’t quite produce dividends, scrum-half Cormac Foley delivered a short pass into the hands of Deegan and the dependable back-row marked his 101st provincial appearance with a simple finish over the line.
Edinburgh briefly halted Leinster’s momentum with another Healy penalty in the 37th minute, but the hosts ended the opening period on a high when Frawley rounded off another attack with his side’s third converted try of the action.
21-6 to the good as a consequence of this latter effort, Leinster had the maximum haul of five points in their sights on the resumption. Patience was initially required, but their fourth try eventually arrived as O’Brien got on the end of a Barron pass to sprint over on the right-flank.
Edinburgh had already looked towards the bench in a bid to stem the rising Leinster tide and within 60 seconds of his introduction as a 53rd minute replacement, James Lang finished off an incisive move for the Scottish outfit’s maiden five-pointer of the game.
This only proved to be a minor speed bump for Leinster, however, as James Culhane (a Six Nations Grand Slam winner with the Ireland U20s in 2022) registered his first try in professional club rugby by applying the finishing touches to a line-out maul on 58 minutes.
Even though the final outcome appeared to be beyond doubt at this point, credit must go to Edinburgh for the way they persevered with their challenge. From their own set-piece manoeuvre with 13 minutes remaining on the clock, Boyle powered over the Leinster line for a try that was supplemented by Healy’s second bonus strike of the proceedings.
An expertly-struck Sam Prendergast penalty did help Leinster to settle again and while Venter became the third Edinburgh replacement to grab a second-half try, the Blues had done enough to come away with a second successive league victory.
Leinster Scorers:
Edinburgh Scorers:
LEINSTER: Ciaran Frawley; Tommy O’Brien, Jamie Osborne, Charlie Ngatai (Rob Russell ’55), Jordan Larmour; Harry Byrne (Sam Prendergast ’55), Cormac Foley (Ben Murphy ’55); Jack Boyle (Paddy McCarthy ’60), Lee Barron (Dylan Donnellan ’67), Michael Ala’alatoa (Rory McGuire ’60); Ross Molony, Jason Jenkins (Brian Deeny ’62); Max Deegan (Rhys Ruddock ’55), Scott Penny, James Culhane.
EDINBURGH: Blair Kinghorn; Wes Goosen, Mark Bennett (James Lang ’55), Matt Currie (Chris Dean ’72), Duhan van der Merwe; Ben Healy, Charlie Shiel; Pierre Shoeman (Boan Venter ’55), Dave Cherry (Ewan Ashman ’55), WP Nel (Javan Sebastian ’55); Glen Young, Grant Gilchrist; Tom Dodd, Hamish Watson (Marshall Sykes half-time), Luke Crosbie (Connor Boyle half-time).
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen.
Written by Daire Walsh and posted on the42.ie
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