United Rugby Championship: Leinster earn bonus-point win over wasteful Edinburgh

Leinster had to repel some early Edinburgh pressure before notching two first-half tries which put them in control

Leinster secured a 26-7 bonus-point over a wasteful Edinburgh in the United Rugby Championship game at the RDS.

Edinburgh dominated the first quarter with Mesu Kunavula having a try ruled out for a double movement.

But Leinster exploited Connor Boyle's unlucky yellow card as Scott Penny touched down with Nick McCarthy sniping over for a second try before half-time.

Tries from Vakh Abdaladze and Max Deegan secured Leinster's bonus point before Emiliano Boffelli's late reply.

The two second-half Leinster tries came after Edinburgh had butchered a couple of further glorious chances - notably full-back Henry Immelman's wild pass into touch as he failed to find Ramiro Moyano as the home side's defence looked stretched.

It was not a vintage Leinster performance in possession but their superb defending at the start of both halves - in addition to profligacy from the visitors - proved more than enough to hand Edinburgh a third defeat of the campaign as Leo Cullen's side move to within a point of leaders Ulster - and with a game in hand.

Both teams were without numerous frontline players on this Six Nations weekend but Leinster's squad still included 11 internationals to emphasise their strength in depth.

However, it was the visitors who produced the early pressure as Boyle's breakdown win set up a penalty which saw Edinburgh camped in the Leinster 22 for nearly 10 minutes.

A succession of drives towards the Leinster line seemed to have been rewarded by a Kunavula score but he was adjudged to made a double movement before touching down.

Edinburgh couldn't exploit the penalty advantage that still followed. Things went to bad from worse for them when Boyle was decidedly unlucky to be yellow carded as his team-mate Charlie Savala's legitimate tackle on Ciaran Frawley propelled the Leinster man into a clash of heads with the flanker.

Frawley was forced off following the collision but Leinster were quickly ahead as man of the match Penny muscled in under the posts. Edinburgh were still down to 14 when McCarthy notched his try to increase their lead to 14-0, with Ross Byrne again converting.

As had been the case in the first half, Edinburgh produced all the pressure after the restart but failed to make it count with Immelman's wild attempted pass to Moyano particularly frustrating.

Late replacement Martin Moloney's drive then set up Penny to send over Abdaladze before Deegan reached full length to notch the bonus-point clinching drive.

Boffelli's superb late response - which he also converted - as he slalomed over following Jaco van der Walt's flat pass only compounded the sense of what might have been for Edinburgh.

Leinster: Osborne; T O'Brien, O'Loughlin, Frawley, Kearney; R Byrne, McCarthy; E Byrne, Tracy, Ala'alatoa; Molony, Murphy; Moloney, Penny, Deegan.

Replacements: Cronin, Dooley, Abdaladze, Toner, Soroka, McGrath, H Byrne, Russell.

Edinburgh: Immelman; Moyano, Currie, Lang, Boffelli; Savala, Pyrgos; Venter, McBurney, Atalifo; Sykes, Youny; Muncaster, Boyle, Kunavula.

Replacements: Cherry, Grahamslaw, Armstrong, Philips, Van Niekerk, Shiel, Van Der Walt, Hutchison.

Referee: Adam Jones (Wales)