European Cup Pool Six/Edinburgh 29 Leinster 10:There were several periods during the Rugby World Cup when it dawned upon Irish supporters that their pre-tournament expectations were unrealistic. That same feeling filtered through the Leinster contingent that made up about a quarter of the crowd of 3,567 at Murrayfield on Saturday.
With 15 minutes remaining, Edinburgh, supposed to be the pushover opponents of Pool Six, led 26-10 and with Leinster chasing their slim chances of a revival Felipe Contepomi essayed a speculative grubber kick.
As he had done in the face of adversity in France, Brian O'Driscoll endeavoured to force the issue. It was even more admirable here considering the Ireland and Leinster captain was clearly playing on one leg. But O'Driscoll's diving attempt to throw his team a lifeline came up short. The pernickety Welsh referee Tim Hayes consulted the video referee and a 22 was duly awarded as a sense of inevitability descended upon proceedings.
Leinster, though honest in their endeavours up front, suffered a similar lack of cohesion and penetration to that evident throughout Ireland's World Cup disaster. The same suspects and a few others failed to make an impact.
The lack of onfield decision-making has become a serious problem for Leinster when Plan A begins to unravel. The 10, 12, 13 axis, containing the three unquestionably world-class players in the team, is malfunctioning and the scrumhalf cannot be scapegoated for the second week running.
"No, I thought he did okay," said coach Michael Cheika in reference to the returning Guy Easterby. "I wanted a bit of experience there and in this situation Cillian (Willis) had four games so it's not like we pulled him straight away."
The midfield backs had enough ball to do damage but their lack of creativity allowed Edinburgh to gang tackle in the face of what became obvious efforts to put O'Driscoll into space.
Edinburgh are not a great side. The former England coach Andy Robinson has undoubtedly brought them on but man-for-man they pale in comparison to Leinster. But when it came down to appetite, Edinburgh devoured the visitors with a scavenging back row and direct running, best personified by their winger Simon Webster.
Their Leinster castaway Ben Gissing can also take a bow after his legitimately big hit cracked Shane Horgan's ribs.
The scrum belonged to Leinster's Ollie Le Roux, but whenever he and his team-mates arrived in the killing zone, they seemed clueless as to how to land the mortal blow.
Their solitary touchdown was a penalty try after Nick De Luca blatantly obstructed O'Driscoll in first-half injury time. Contepomi's simple conversion left it 16-10 to Edinburgh but it took nine minutes and six five-metre scrums to achieve the pressure that brought those seven points.
Outhalf Phil Godman had already put Edinburgh in the driving seat with three early penalties as Leinster were punished for repeated indiscipline at the breakdown.
The first Edinburgh try came from Webster after Andrew Turnbull created a two-on-one scenario down Luke Fitzgerald's wing.
The excellent Mike Blair overshadowed his opposite number Easterby, even dropping an early-second-half goal to give Edinburgh a nine-point cushion.
There eventually came a flicker of Leinster magic as Fitzgerald released Gordon D'Arcy for a 50-yard break. The first man in support was Le Roux. Stephen Keogh did pick up the charge but the Edinburgh back row, where Ali Hogg was brilliant, turned ball over inches from their own line.
The axe soon fell for Leinster when Rob Kearney, prompted by Contepomi, opted to attack from the 22 only for his offload to be intercepted by Ben Cairns for the simplest of run-ins.
Godman made it a perfect six from six place kicks late on to ensure Murrayfield on December 15th, 2007, became the defining date in Leinster's failed European campaign.
Scoring sequence - 4 mins: F Contepomi pen, 0-3; 12: P Godman pen, 3-3; 15: Godman pen, 6-3; 28: Godman pen, 9-3; 32: S Webster try, Godman con, 16-3; 45: Penalty try, Contepomi con, 16-10 (half-time 16-10); 42: M Blair drop-goal, 19-10; 54: B Cairns try, Godman con, 26-10; 78: Godman pen, 29-10.
EDINBURGH: B Cairns; A Turnbull, N De Luca, J Houston, S Webster; P Godman, M Blair (capt); A Jacobsen, R Ford, A Allori; M Mustchin, B Gissing; S Cross, R Rennie, A Hogg. Replacements: G Cross for Allori (38 mins), R Reid for S Cross (55 mins), C Hamilton for Mustchin (68 mins), A Kelly for Ford (77 mins), B Meyer for M Blair, D Blair for Godman, C MacRae for Cairns (all 79 mins).
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, R Kearney; F Contepomi, G Easterby; O Le Roux, B Jackman, S Wright; L Cullen, M O'Kelly; S Keogh, S Jennings, J Heaslip. Replacements: L Fitzgerald for Horgan (25 mins), K Gleeson for Keogh (48 mins), C Keane for Easterby (68 mins), C Healy for Le Roux (73 mins), C Jowitt for Cullen (79 mins), J Sexton for O'Driscoll (82 mins).
Referee: T Hayes (Wales).
