Edinburgh suffer first league defeat in Dublin
Edinburgh fell to their first Guinness PRO14 defeat of the season as reigning league champions Leinster scored five second-half tries to secure a 40-14 bonus-point win in Dublin.
Despite taking a first-half lead following Jamie Farndale’s well worked score, the hosts eventually found their groove and were, in the end, too strong for Richard Cockerill’s side.
Leinster had two men sent to bin in the opening half, but even with a numerical advantage, the capital side struggled to break down the hosts’ impressive defence.

The hosts were on top from the get-go, but could not turn that territory into points as stand-off Ross Byrne not once, but twice missed simple kicks at goal to give his side the first points of the evening.
That opening score did eventually arrive however, but not without some fortune. With a ball chipped into the corner, the defending pair of Jaco van der Walt and Duhan van der Merwe were thrown off by a freakish bounce which led to scrum-half James Gibson-Park touching down in the corner. [5-0]
Down one score, Edinburgh upped their intensity. Luke Crosbie – who was an engine in the capital side’s back-row all evening – got on the ball to win a penalty on half-way, which gave his side excellent positioning inside Leinster territory.
As the capital side won another penalty under the Leinster sticks, pressure was mounting on the hosts’ pack at scrum time. And when Leinster collapsed yet another scrum, the referee had no other option but to send prop Michael Bent to the bin.
From the resulting scrum, the capital side worked it out wide to Farndale who slid in the corner to give his side the lead. Not without complication, however, as Joe Tomane was shown his side’s second yellow of the evening for appearing to knee Farndale in the grounding of the score.
As Jaco van der Walt nailed the resulting conversion, Edinburgh were up by two – in both points on the scoreboard and in players on the park. [5-7]
However, even with 14 men on the park, Leinster would not be denied. And on the stoke of half-time, Bent – who had just returned to the field of play following his sin binning – rumbled over from short distance to once again give his side the lead at the break. [12-7]

With just five-points in it, Leinster turned the screw in the second period and were soon in the ascendance as No.8 Caelen Doris touched down with just three minutes played. [17-7]
With the hosts in full flow – and with a packed RDS Arena pushing them on – they soon turned that territorial advantage into further points.
Leinster have shown time after time how potent they are when in touching ditance of the whitewash and as Scott Penny wrestled his way over, the hosts had the bonus-point score in the bag. [26-7]
Despite the scoreline quickly turning in Leinster’s favour, Edinburgh refused to lie down. With a flurry of substitutions – including the introduction of James Johnstone in midfield and Ally Miller in the back-row – the capital side looked dangerous with ball in hand, but still, Leinster’s suffocating defence allowed little room for errors.
And it was those errors that Leinster would be able to capitalise on. Replacements Michael Milne and Rowan Osbourne both found the scoresheet to hit the 40-point mark, and the match was soon out of reach. [40-7]
With further replacements in Charlie Shiel and summer signing Sam Thomson – who made his competitive debut for the club – Edinburgh continued to threaten when moving the ball in space.
Shiel would grab a consolation score late on – his first try in professional rugby - to make it 40-14 with nine minutes remaining, but it was too little, too late as Leinster claimed s deserved victory to maintain their position atop of Conference A.
Edinburgh return to league action in two week’s time as Conference B rivals Scarlets visit BT Murrayfield on Saturday 26 October (kick-off 7.35pm).
live commentary 7:35 PM Friday 11 Oct 2019
‘{{ time.substring(0, 2) }}
Half-time
Full-time
{{ event.type }}
Kick-off 7:35 PM
We're sorry, we're not able to retrieve this information at the moment, please try back later
Leinster
-
Jimmy O'Brien
23. Replacement31metres made
17MINUTES PLAYED
1TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
-
Harry Byrne
22. Replacement0metres made
17MINUTES PLAYED
5TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
-
Rowan Osborne
21. Replacement24metres made
17MINUTES PLAYED
3TACKLES MADE
13COMPLETE PASSES
-
Josh Murphy
20. Replacement0metres made
36MINUTES PLAYED
7TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Ross Molony
19. Replacement0metres made
15MINUTES PLAYED
5TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Vakh Abdaladze
18. Replacement0metres made
35MINUTES PLAYED
2TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Michael Milne
17. Replacement7metres made
25MINUTES PLAYED
8TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
James Tracy
16. Replacement8metres made
25MINUTES PLAYED
1TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Caelan Doris
8. Number 814metres made
44MINUTES PLAYED
6TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
-
Scott Penny
7. Back-row17metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
16TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Max Deegan
6. Back-row32metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
11TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Scott Fardy
5. Second-row18metres made
65MINUTES PLAYED
3TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
-
Devin Toner
4. Second-row8metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
6TACKLES MADE
4COMPLETE PASSES
-
Michael Bent
3. Tighthead prop5metres made
45MINUTES PLAYED
5TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Ronan Kelleher
2. Hooker1metres made
55MINUTES PLAYED
9TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
-
Peter Dooley
1. Loosehead prop8metres made
55MINUTES PLAYED
8TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Jamison Gibson-Park
9. Scrum-half5metres made
63MINUTES PLAYED
2TACKLES MADE
57COMPLETE PASSES
-
Ross Byrne
10. Stand-off3metres made
63MINUTES PLAYED
1TACKLES MADE
25COMPLETE PASSES
-
James Lowe
11. Wing58metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
3TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
-
Joseph Tomane
12. Inside-centre60metres made
70MINUTES PLAYED
7TACKLES MADE
5COMPLETE PASSES
-
Rory O'Loughlin
13. Outside-centre42metres made
63MINUTES PLAYED
7TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
-
Dave Kearney
14. Wing50metres made
70MINUTES PLAYED
3TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
-
Hugo Keenan
15. Full-back58metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
0TACKLES MADE
4COMPLETE PASSES
Edinburgh
-
Damien Hoyland
15. Full-back29metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
0TACKLES MADE
8COMPLETE PASSES
-
Jamie Farndale
14. Wing5metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
3TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
-
Mark Bennett
13. Outside-centre35metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
4TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
-
George Taylor
12. Inside-centre0metres made
53MINUTES PLAYED
11TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
-
Duhan van der Merwe
11. Wing15metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
2TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
-
Jaco van der Walt
10. Stand-off0metres made
53MINUTES PLAYED
5TACKLES MADE
10COMPLETE PASSES
-
Nic Groom
9. Scrum-half2metres made
59MINUTES PLAYED
7TACKLES MADE
41COMPLETE PASSES
-
Pierre Schoeman
1. Loosehead prop1metres made
61MINUTES PLAYED
11TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
-
Michael Willemse
2. Hooker0metres made
61MINUTES PLAYED
8TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
-
Pietro Ceccarelli
3. Tighthead prop1metres made
61MINUTES PLAYED
6TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
-
Jamie Hodgson
4. Second-row0metres made
64MINUTES PLAYED
11TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Murray Douglas
5. Second-row9metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
14TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
-
Mesulame Kunavula
6. Back-row3metres made
49MINUTES PLAYED
7TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Luke Crosbie
7. Back-row9metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
13TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
-
Nick Haining
8. Number 839metres made
80MINUTES PLAYED
9TACKLES MADE
4COMPLETE PASSES
-
Cameron Fenton
16. Replacement0metres made
19MINUTES PLAYED
4TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Jamie Bhatti
17. Replacement0metres made
19MINUTES PLAYED
3TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
-
Murray McCallum
18. Replacement1metres made
19MINUTES PLAYED
4TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Sam Thomson
19. Replacement1metres made
16MINUTES PLAYED
2TACKLES MADE
0COMPLETE PASSES
-
Ally Miller
20. Replacement47metres made
31MINUTES PLAYED
4TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
-
Charlie Shiel
21. Replacement5metres made
21MINUTES PLAYED
0TACKLES MADE
25COMPLETE PASSES
-
Simon Hickey
22. Replacement25metres made
27MINUTES PLAYED
2TACKLES MADE
6COMPLETE PASSES
-
James Johnstone
23. Replacement21metres made
27MINUTES PLAYED
4TACKLES MADE
5COMPLETE PASSES
Your browser is out of date.
Update your browser to view this website correctly.
CHECK HERE FOR LATEST VERSIONSRead more information about browsers and how to upgrade yours