Edinburgh's fine winning run in the Magners League came to a heart-breaking end at the RDS tonight as the capital club were edged out in an absorbing affair by Irish giants Leinster.
Rob Moffat's men scored two great tries, through Tim Visser and Chris Paterson, but ended up on the wrong side of the closest of scorelines as the hosts locked things up late on.
Edinburgh will now seek to take their frustrations out on Benetton Treviso, the Italian cracks who have made an impressive start to Magners League life and ship up at Murrayfield on Friday (kick-off 7.05pm).
Back in Dublin, Moffat was forced into a late personnel change, with lock Fraser McKenzie succumbing to a sore back and being replaced in the starting line-up by Esteban Lozada, who hadn't featured since taking a blow to the ribs in the win over Aironi at the beginning of the month. Craig Hamilton took up the Argentine's original role among the substitutes.
Edinburgh opened brightly, Ross Rennie and Mike Blair sniping away to good effect, but it was Leinster who registered the first points of the night when Isa Nacewa landed a third-minute penalty from out on the left.
The Dubliners sought to play Edinburgh at their own game, offloading quickly out of contact, but after Roddy Grant won an excellent turnover the visitors were on the march. Mike Blair, returning to the starting line-up after missing out against Ulster with a bug, put up a challenging little kick to the left corner, where the ball bounced and looked set for all the world to dribble into touch.
Nobody in the Leinster ranks had, however, reckoned on the brilliant speculation of Tim Visser, who kept the ball alive with a left-foot touch of which his countryman Wesley Sneijder would have been proud, before throwing himself down on it to complete a sensational score. Paterson was marginally out with the conversion attempt, but Edinburgh were up and running, even if Nacewa kept Leinster ticking over with a second penalty shortly after.
Moffat's men struggled initially to string together successive phases, but any concern at this difficulty soon receded when the backline put together a move of fantastic fluidity and threat. After a half-break from debutant Alex Blair sowed seeds of panic in the Leinster defence, Paterson and Houston worked the ball to Grove, who gunned into space down the right.
The on-loan Worcester man, lining up for at outside centre for the first time in an Edinburgh journey, saw Jim Thompson arrive in support to his left and sought to pop the ball back inside, only for Leinster scrum-half Paul O'Donohoe to get a vital touch and divert the thing to safety.
Edinburgh kept up the pressure, and after the hosts collapsed a scrum, Paterson stepped up to put them two points ahead with a penalty. Nacewa replied in kind almost immediately, Edinburgh pinged for failing to roll away, but missed a far more straightforward kick just before the break.
HALF-TIME: LEINSTER 9 EDINBURGH 8
Leinster returned to the field with the bit firmly between their teeth, and breached the Edinburgh try-line for the first time in the 46th minute. Nathan Hines, a black and red legend, gave the visiting support an unfortunate reminder of his handling ability, slipping a lovely pass in between two defenders for wing Andrew Conway to score. Nacewa duly converted.
Edinburgh hit back promptly, Alex Blair making a fine incursion that helped win a penalty that Paterson knocked over. Visiting replacement David Young was then sin-binned in mysterious circumstances, the decision appearing to be, at the very best, a case of mistaken identity. To add insult to injury, Nacewa made no mistake with the resultant penalty, giving Leinster a 19-11 lead.
It was crucial that Edinburgh made some form of instant respose, and what a reply it was. A storming break and silky step from Ross Ford saw the hooker advance clean up the middle, and as the Leinster defence regrouped, Mike Blair whipped a fine flat pass to Paterson who careered in under the posts before converting his own score.
The game was delicately poised. As a sapping contest wore on, Moffat made full use of his bench, introducing the likes of Kyle Traynor, Craig Hamilton, Mark Robertson and David Bishop, the Welsh centre thereby making his Edinburgh debut.
Another milestone moment arrived when Scott Newlands entered the fray to record his 50th appearance in the black and red.
Edinburgh's biggest challenge in the closing stages was getting hold of the ball and retaining it for any meaningful length of time.
With six minutes to go, a smart left-side combination involving Visser, Bishop and Scott MacLeod saw some momentum generated, but when Robertson was adjudged to have held on, frustration reigned for the visitors. Relief breifly usurped this as the dominant emotion as Nacewa missed a 78th-minute penalty, but there was to be no happy finale for the visitors, who will look on their losing bonus point as scant reward for a gritty display.
FULL-TIME: LEINSTER 19 EDINBURGH 18
EDINBURGH: Chris Paterson; Jim Thompson, Alex Grove, John Houston, Tim Visser; Alex Blair, Mike Blair; Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford, Geoff Cross, Scott MacLeod, Esteban Lozada, Netani Talei, Ross Rennie, Roddy Grant (captain)
Replacements: Andrew Kelly, Kyle Traynor, David Young, Craig Hamilton, Scott Newlands, Greig Laidlaw, David Bishop, Mark Robertson
LEINSTER: Isa Nacewa; Shane Horgan, Eoin O'Malley, Fergus McFadden, Andrew Conway; Ian Madigan, Paul O'Donohoe; Heinke van der Merwe, Richardt Strauss, Mike Ross, Leo Cullen (captain), Nathan Hines, Dominic Ryan, Shane Jennings, Stephen Keogh
Replacements: Jason Harris-Wright, Jack McGrath, Simon Shawe, Devin Toner, Rhys Ruddock, Isaac Boss, Shaun Berne, David Kearney.
Referee: Carlo Damasco (FIR)
