Leinster beat Edinburgh in Champions Cup thriller
Tommy O'Brien scored two tries in the first eight minutes in Leinster's win
- Published
Investec Champions Cup
Leinster 49 (28)
Tries: T O'Brien (2), J O'Brien, Keenan, van der Flier, Clarkson, Ioane Cons: Byrne (7)
Edinburgh 31 (26)
Tries: Shiel, Thompson (2), Currie, Graham Cons: Thompson (3)
Leinster turned on the style in the second half to beat Edinburgh 49-31 in a chaotic Investec Champions Cup last-16 game at the Aviva Stadium.
It was an entertaining first half in Dublin that yielded 54 points between the two teams as Leinster were stunning going forward but error-prone defensively, gifting Edinburgh their four tries.
Sean Everitt's side were big underdogs heading into the game and pushed Leinster hard, but the hosts had too much in the second half as they pulled away with three more tries for a vital win.
They will now face Sale Sharks in the quarter-finals at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, 11 April at 17:30 BST.
End-to-end first half with four tries apiece
Leinster excelled going forward in the first half, scoring four tries, but they also gifted Edinburgh four tries
Leinster were heavy favourites heading into the game as they had landed nine bonus-point wins in a row against Edinburgh and had won every meeting in Dublin in the past 21 years.
Cullen's side made a storming start in Dublin with Tommy O'Brien scoring their first try with just 70 seconds on the clock.
Jimmy O'Brien burst forward before Dan Sheehan released Tommy O'Brien to dot down in the corner.
Tommy O'Brien got his and Leinster's second on eight minutes with a fine individual try again in the corner.
Just as they looked to be about to run away with it, mistakes started to creep in which handed Edinburgh a route back into the game.
An error from Tadhg Furlong enabled Edinburgh to get their first points on the board on 16 minutes as Charlie Shiel pounced on a misplace offload to Jamie Osborne before racing over.
A second followed soon after from Ross Thompson, who also nailed a fine conversion, to narrow the gap to two points.
Leinster hit back five minutes later, with Jimmy O'Brien getting over in the corner.
The end-to-end nature of the game continued with more sloppy Leinster play gifting Thompson another try.
Osborne's attempted pass to Jamison Gibson-Park went straight to Thompson and he touched down under the posts.
Hugo Keenan then marked his European return by crashing over for Leinster's fourth try after latching onto Rieko Ioane's pass.
Incredibly, another intercept presented Edinburgh with a fourth try of their own on the stroke of half-time.
Mattie Currie cut out Gibson-Park's pass, gathered the ball at the second attempt and charged over to leave two points between the sides at the break.
Leinster pull away in dominant second half
Ioane scored one of Leinster's three tries that helped them take control in the second half
Leinster thought they had made the perfect start to the second half when Josh van der Flier crossed, but, after a television match official [TMO] review, the try was chalked off for a knock on.
They continued to pile the pressure on in the early stages of the second half as they looked to extend their advantage, but failed to add to their tally and were caught out on 53 minutes when Edinburgh went ahead for the first time.
The ball bounced favourably for Darcy Graham after Thompson's charged down kick and he gleefully took full advantage, chipping the ball over Keenan before touching down ahead of Gibson-Park.
Leinster responded well as van der Flier made amends for his failure to ground the ball 15 minutes earlier as he scored following a tap and go from Sheehan.
Two tries in quick succession from Thomas Clarkson and Ioane finally gave the hosts the breathing space their attacking display deserved.
Ioane set up Clarkson to power over on 63 minutes before the New Zealand international sold a dummy to Graham, skipped down the left-hand side and scored two minutes later to seal the victory for the four-time European Cup winners.
Leinster: Keenan; T O'Brien, Ioane, Osborne, J O'Brien; Byrne, Gibson-Park; Porter, Sheehan, Furlong; J McCarthy, Baird; Conan, Van der Flier, Doris (capt).
Replacements: G McCarthy, Usanov, Clarkson, Deeny, Deegan, McGrath, Frawley, Henshaw.
Edinburgh: Schoeman, Ashman, Rae, Sykes, Gilchrist, McConnell, Richardson, Muncaster; Shiel, Thompson, Satala, Lang, Currie, Graham, O'Conor.
Replacements: Blyth-Lafferty, Venter, Hill, Young, Douglas, Vellacott, Tuipulotu, Brown.