A 23-point haul from the returning Jonathan Sexton inspired Leinster to a 33-28 victory over Edinburgh in Friday night’s RaboDirect PRO12 match at Murrayfield.
Speaking after the game, Leinster head coach Joe Schmidt said: “I thought that the guys who returned (from the World Cup) showed signs of rustiness. But it was a fantastic thing that a number of the guys got through 80 minutes, such as Fergus (McFadden).
“Rob (Kearney) did well and fought his way through and Leo (Cullen) was the typical steady head in there.
“Any game that you win you’re glad to get out of the system! The league is so competitive and it’s not an easy place to come to and win, so we’re delighted with the result.
“We’ll now turn our attentions to another massive game against Munster at the Aviva (Stadium) next Friday.”
Leinster began brightly at Murrayfield but were penalised after an infringement at a scrum. Edinburgh captain Greig Laidlaw converted the resulting kick to give the hosts an early 3-0 lead.
Leinster, wearing their all white away strip, bounced straight back with David Kearney displaying real power along the touchline to feed his onrushing brother Rob who sprinted between the Edinburgh 10-metre line and their 22 but the Ireland full-back was held up inches from the line.
The Scots were penalised from the ensuing ruck and out-half Jonathan Sexton had little difficulty in levelling the sides with a penalty four minutes later.
With their tails up, Leinster probed and a wonderful Isaac Boss break through the Edinburgh midfield was held up metres from the line. Again the visitors were awarded a penalty which Sexton calmly slotted home to edge Leinster ahead after 16 minutes.
The see-saw nature of the game continued though and almost immediately from the restart Leinster were on the back foot and Tim Visser exploited a gap in the defence to race clear and score the opening try which Laidlaw converted.
Within two minutes Leinster had the opportunity to reduce the deficit to a single point. Sexton duly did thanks to his third successful penalty of the evening.
Eoin O’Malley put in a typically industrious shift in midfield alongside McFadden and it was O’Malley’s initial probe inside the Edinburgh 22 in the 25th minute which led to the visitors’ first try.
Leo Auva’a burst forward and found scrum half Boss who sauntered through to touch down and move Leinster into the lead again. Sexton’s crisply-struck conversion made it 16-10.
The ball resided around the halfway line for the next passages of play and Devin Toner continued his good recent run of form with some crunching hits, but Edinburgh were awarded a penalty. Laidlaw knocked the ball through the posts o cut Leinster’s lead to three points.
Sexton restored the six-point advantage, though, with another penalty two minutes later to make it 19-13 as the half drew to a close.
Edinburgh sprinted out of the blocks in the second half and within three minutes Visser broke some tackles in the Leinster defence to score his second try, with Laidlaw adding the extras.
It was nip and tuck as a 50th minute strike from Sexton pushed Leinster into a 22-20 advantage and then Laidlaw restored the Scots’ lead with another three-pointer five minutes later.
But a wonderful break from replacement hooker Richardt Strauss led to a ruck metres from the try-line. Dominic Ryan linked with Boss who passed to Rob Kearney and the powerful Auva’a cut through in the corner to score his first try in Leinster colours.
Sexton’s difficult conversion attempt fell agonisingly wide of the uprights but nonetheless Leinster had regained the upper hand at 27-23.
Some more pressure applied, first through Auva’a and then by replacement Rhys Ruddock, led to another Leinster penalty and Sexton added his 20th point of the evening before a 70th minute drop goal extended the lead to 33-23.
A minute later and the game was back in the balance when Edinburgh centre Matt Scott gathered a chip through from out-half Harry Leonard to score and reduce Leinster’s lead to five points, but McFadden’s last-minute penalty sealed a fine win for Schmidt’s side.
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