Leinster survive self-inflicted woes in Champions Cup struggle session with Edinburgh

Leinster booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Investec Champions Cup with an entertaining 49-31 victory over Edinburgh in a 12-try affair.

Leinster scored twice in the first six minutes to give them an early 14-point advantage courtesy of a couple of tries from Tommy O’Brien but Edinburgh replied with two of their own, firstly when Charlie Shiel raced away before Ross Thompson crossed over to cut the deficit back to two points.

Leinster hit straight back with their third try when Jimmy O’Brien stretched out in the corner but Edinburgh were not going away, and they replied with their third try when Thompson went over for his second of the afternoon.

Both sides still had time to get another try in an electric first half. Hugo Keenan re-extended Leinster’s nine-point advantage before Matt Currie cut the lead back to two again in a breathtaking opening half.

Edinburgh hit the front for the first time in the game 11 minutes into the second half through a moment of magic from Darcy Graham, who dinked the ball over the top and had the beating of Jamison Gibson-Park to touch down.

22m Entries

Avg. Points Scored

3.5

14

Entries

Avg. Points Scored

5.1

6

Entries

However, the side from Ireland retook the lead through Josh van der Flier and scored twice more in the space of two minutes courtesy of Thomas Clarkson and Rieko Ioane, who sold the dummy on Graham to finish off a chaotic afternoon.

Leinster Rugby: 15. Hugo Keenan, 14. Tommy O’Brien, 13. Rieko Ioane, 12. Jamie Osborne, 11. Jimmy O’Brien, 10. Harry Byrne, 9. Jamison Gibson-Park, 1. Andrew Porter, 2. Dan Sheehan, 3. Tadhg Furlong, 4. Joe McCarthy, 5. Ryan Baird, 6. Jack Conan, 7. Josh van der Flier, 8. Caelan Doris (c)

Replacements: 16. Gus McCarthy, 17. Alex Usanov, 18. Tom Clarkson, 19. Brian Deeny, 20. Max Deegan, 21. Luke McGrath, 22. Ciaran Frawley, 23. Robbie Henshaw

Edinburgh Rugby: 15. Piers O’Conor, 14. Darcy Graham, 13. Matt Currie, 12. James Lang, 11. Malelili Satala, 10. Ross Thompson, 9. Charlie Shiel, 1. Pierre Schoeman, 2. Ewan Ashman, 3. D’arcy Rae, 4. Marshall Sykes, 5. Grant Gilchrist (c), 6. Liam McConnell, 7. Dylan Richardson, 8. Ben Muncaster

Replacements: 16. Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, 17. Boan Venter, 18. Paul Hill, 19. Glen Young, 20. Freddy Douglas, 21. Ben Vellacott, 22. Mosese Tuipulotu, 23. Jack Brown