'Perspective required as Edinburgh show positives in Leinster loss'published at 11:48 24 September
Sandy Smith
Fan writer
We need to start with a little perspective. Edinburgh haven’t beaten Leinster since 2019 and in the intervening period we have lost to them five times with the average margin being 23 points.
In the same period we’ve secured exactly one bonus point against them. You have to go back to 2018 to find another game when we scored five tries against them.
I’m not saying we should celebrate a defeat, but despite some contrary opinion this was not a scratch Leinster team. It had plenty of experience and an average of 65 caps per player in the starting XV.
Yes, they had a trio of academy players in their team, but we hear ad nauseam about how good the Irish player pathway is so make up your mind.
There were some areas of concern. Duhan van der Merwe scored two tries but was complicit in at least two of Leinsters’. For their second he didn't get stuck in or keep his position.
Then he should have done better when Gibson-Park got his score, but he wasn’t alone at that moment.
Selection wise it is becoming increasingly frustrating to see Ben Vellacott stuck on the bench when it’s clear he brings an impetus to our attack that otherwise seems somewhat impaired.
The positives include how good our scrummaging was. Our discipline was also excellent with only five penalties conceded.
The centre partnership of Scott and Tuipulotu, albeit it was imposed on us firstly by Emiliano Boffelli’s late injury and then Matt Currie’s injury during the match, is looking very promising.
We got close. Closer than we’ve been for a long time. There were a few things that if we got them right, we might have got over the line.
We fell short but we kept at it and got those oh so precious bonus points that could be even more crucial this season.
I’d rather take the positives from it than dwell on those few missteps. Plenty of games ahead to make a more informed judgement on.
