Leinster get maximum at Murrayfield

16 points: Jonathan Sexton

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• Edinburgh
• Leinster

Leinster stayed right in the mix of the RaboDirect PRO12 play-off spots after defeating Edinburgh 31-16 on Friday.

The opening half an hour was an evenly contested and hard-fought battle at Murrayfield, with a penalty apiece from Greig Laidlaw and Jonny Sexton the only points on the scoreboard until the game turned five minutes before half-time.

David Denton was sent to the sin bin for a cynical infringement to thwart the momentum of a driving maul from the visitors and referee Ian Davies did not hesitate in awarding a penalty try.

The home side never recovered from that setback and Leinster took full advantage of the extra man just a few minutes later as Cian Healy floated a pass wide for Gordon D'Arcy to coast over in the left-hand corner and make it 17-3.

Laidlaw did add a second penalty just before the break and Piers Francis slotted over a drop-goal early in the second half but the fightback did not last long.

Sexton combined well with Shane Jennings just before the hour mark to score the visitors' third try of the evening and, despite having Jamie Heaslip sin-binned five minutes later, they sealed a bonus point with just under quarter of an hour remaining as Ian Madigan charged over underneath the posts from short range.

Edinburgh did grab a late consolation try as prop WP Nel threw an audacious dummy and powered his way over the line but Leinster were convincing winners and move into the top four.

The scorers:

For Edinburgh:
Try: Nel
Con: Francis
Pen: Laidlaw 2
Drop: Francis

For Leinster:
Tries: Penalty, D'Arcy, Sexton, Madigan
Con: Sexton 4
Pen: Sexton

Edinburgh: 15 Greig Tonks, 14 Dougie Fife, 13 Matt Scott, 12 Ben Atiga, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Piers Francis, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 David Denton, 7 Dimitri Basilaia, 6 Stuart McInally, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Andy Titterrell, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Steven Lawrie, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Perry Parker, 20 Netani Talei, 21 Richie Rees, 22 James King, 23 Sep Visser.

Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Fionn Carr, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan,8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Leo Cullen (c) 3 Mike Ross, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Aaron Dundon, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Tom Denton, 20 Shane Jennings, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Andrew Conway.

Referee: Ian Davies (WRU)
Assistant referees: Peter Allan, Bob Nevins (both SRU)
Television match official: Jim Yuille (SRU)