Celtic League/Leinster - 35 Edinburgh - 13: Cometh the hour, cometh the men, and all that. Entering the last quarter, with the sides level and the match finely balanced, Declan Kidney introduced Gordon D'Arcy and Denis Hickie. Within a couple of minutes, D'Arcy sent Hickie over the whitewash with their first touches of the ball and with one bound Leinster were free.:
Hail Kidney the messiah, hail D'Arcy and Hickie? In truth, as Kidney would no doubt admit, any coach would probably look like a genius with such impact replacements and as he'd also maintain, just as pertinent to Leinster pulling away handsomely in the last quarter was the increasing and eventually superiority of their hard-working forwards, especially in the tight.
Take that break-through try, which was a routine run-in for Hickie from D'Arcy's pass after the Leinster scrum got the shove on Edinburgh and, not for the first time in the match, man-of-the-match Victor Costello drove his opposite number David Callam back in the tackle. Shane Jennings ripped the ball out to move it on to D'Arcy. Amid the high fives and cheers, Jennings gave tight-head Emmet Byrne a pat on the rear.
For the next, when D'Arcy, Brian O'Driscoll and Hickie combined in harmony and at a high tempo, again the hard yards had stemmed from Malcolm O'Kelly and his lifters finally making inroads with a couple of steals into a previously impenetrable Edinburgh lineout; as indeed was the case for the final flourish which earned a bonus point and regained second place in the table.
Hence Leinster maintained and slightly bettered their average of 30 points per game against Edinburgh, only this time they beat them for a change. As important therefore, was some of the defending, for until the Scots wilted - looking particularly rudderless when Todd Blackadder called time on his efforts - they had asked the bigger questions.
With Nigel Williams allowing a good, hard contest for possession in the tackle area, the exchanges became foot loose and fancy free and after David Holwell and Chris Paterson exchanged early penalties, Leinster must have had a foreboding sense of deja vu.
From one tit-for-tat bout of open play, a somewhat isolated Shane Horgan ran the ball back from inside his own 22 and the mobility of the Edinburgh front row played a prominent part in the resultant opening try.
Tighthead Craig Smith wrestled the ball out of the maul for another turnover, hooker Dougie Hall releasing loosehead Allan Jacobsen for a burst up the left to beat Brian O'Meara's covering tackle and take those of Aidan McCullen and Leo Cullen to score.
Leinster were having to take more chances in their offloading to penetrate a well-organised defence. When McCullen was taken out after gathering in a lineout, Leinster opted to go closer to the corner. O'Kelly arched his back to gather Shane Byrne's throw with his fingertips for the drive, Byrne joining in to claim the try and Holwell converting for the lead.
Leinster held it until the break, though Edinburgh's policy of keeping attacking pods out wide and playing with width stretched Leinster. In truth the Scots should have gone in ahead, Derrick Lee cutting through before being hauled down superbly by Felipe Contepomi, and then ignoring a big overlap from the recycle before Eric Miller (who retired at half-time with a stiff neck) rucked through to force a turnover amid a hint of offside. O'Kelly also had to charge down an attempted drop goal by Laney.
Edinburgh responded to a post-interval penalty by Holwell with a superb counter-attacking try. The impressive Marcus Di Rollo gave the move its impetus with a deft, quick transfer which fellow midfielder Craig Joiner raced on to inside half-way, then linking with Brendan Laney and Jacobsen, who sent big openside Allister Hogg away. Though cut off by Holwell, his looped pass inside saw substitute scrumhalf Rory Lawson dive triumphantly over the line.
Cue the impact substitutes. After Hickie's first try, Leinster set up second phase in midfield just inside half-way off a clean Costello take at the tail. What followed was done at such a blinding pace that any team would have struggled to contain it. D'Arcy ran hard and wriggled his hands free in the tackle to pop the ball up for O'Driscoll, veering inside but then reverse passing for Hickie, who had held his line, to run in his second try.
For the coup de grace, O'Kelly took another steal at the tail and Leinster went wide from inside their 22, O'Driscoll releasing Brown for a 40-metre scamper up the touchline with a skip pass. He linked infield with Dempsey, who in turn found the supporting Holwell and he had the wit to take the tackle and offload for McCullen, the big flanker capping a fine game by striding 30 metres to the post impressively. Holwell converted his seventh kick from nine for a 15-point haul.
Leinster's class and fitness had come through.
Scoring sequence - 6 mins: Holwell pen 3-0; 10: Paterson pen 3-3; 14: Jacobsen try 3-8; 28: S Byrne try, Holwell con 10-8; (half-time 10-8); 44: Holwell pen 13-8; 54 mins Lawson try 13-13; 63: Hickie try 18-13; 68: Hickie try, Holwell con 25-13; 72: Holwell pen 28-13; 83: McCullen try, Holwell con 35-13.
LEINSTER: G Dempsey; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, F Contepomi, G Brown; D Holwell, B O'Meara; R Corrigan (capt), S Byrne, E Byrne, M O'Kelly, L Cullen, A McCullen, V Costello, E Miller. Replacements: S Jennings for Costello (19-25 mins) and for Miller (half-time), B Gissing for Cullen (52-61 mins), G D'Arcy for Contepomi, D Hickie for Horgan (61 mins).
EDINBURGH: D Lee; H Southwell, M Di Rollo, C Joiner, C Paterson; B Laney, M Blair; A Jacobsen, D Hall, C Smith, N Hines, A Kellock, T Blackadder (capt), D Callam, A Hogg. Replacements: R Lawson for Blair (53 mins), P Godman for Laney (58 mins), J Brannigan for Smith (60 mins), A Kelly for Hall, S Cross for Blackadder, M Pyke for Lee (all 74 mins), F Pringle for Hines (74 mins).
Referee: Nigel Williams (Wales).
