Leinster feel Murrayfield chill once more

Magners League Edinburgh 15  Leinster 13WHATEVER IT is by the chilly Edinburgh air, Murrayfield remains Leinster's graveyard. Last night the curse struck spectacularly again in a seventh defeat in eight competitive visits here.

Having spent much of the preceding 80 minutes doing their best to lose a match they looked set to win, Leinster were given one last chance when Edinburgh spoiled once too much for even Nigel Owens' liking.

But, lining up the straightish, 35-metre penalty which would have given them an 11th successive win and left them effectively with both hands on the Magners League trophy, Felipe Contepomi's kick drifted toward and off the upright.

So completed a miserable night for his team and for him especially in front of a paltry crowd of 3,138. They should still get their mits on the trophy, and will do so in front of their fans if they beat the Dragons this day fortnight.

But this one will rankle. Once again this season the pack could not be faulted. The lineout ensured a steady stream of ball, the maul rumbled forward and Ollie le Roux, Stanley Wright, Stephen Keogh, Jamie Heaslip and co made plenty of hard yards.

Outhalf Johnny Sexton tried to vary it too, throwing up huge kicks and angled touch-finders with a strong running game, but outside him there was no control.

Contepomi had one of those very occasional, distracted-looking performances, his array of offloads and passes either coming with red crosses on them as Nick de Luca and co flew up hard, or simply being dropped or going to ground.

On his return, Brian O'Driscoll looked short of form and fitness, though his defensive reading remained as assured as ever and he carried the ball well.

Edinburgh scarcely did much more than defend superbly themselves and feed off the errors, occasionally threatening to spring into life before failing to execute glimmers of opportunities. But, yet again, that was enough.

Underlining their intent, Leinster raced out of the blocks. An excellent kick to touch by Johnny Sexton, good set-piece pressure with Leo Cullen to the fore and sustained recycling culminated in Contepomi opening the scoring with a penalty.

All began to unravel though when Leinster reverted to type - bad type, that is. Going for an extravagant wide move behind the gain line and just inside half-way, Contepomi fed Rob Kearney with both man and ball as de Luca swept in to nail the winger. Luke Fitzgerald picked up but dropped the ball in the tackle, and though Kearney covered back to tackle Ben Cairns, Contepomi was even the most culpable in the defensive rearrangement when he stepped inside to give Ross Ford the room to scramble over by the flag. For good measure, Phil Godman landed the touchline conversion.

Confidence immediately drained from the Leinster backs. There would be six more handling errors by half-time, usually resulting in turnovers or retreating, and all were committed by the backs.

There was, however, a sublime break by Sexton and good support play from O'Driscoll, Girvan Dempsey and Wright, before Ford made a try-saving tackle to deny Chris Whitaker.

Compensation came by way of another Contepomi penalty when Matt Mustchin didn't roll away close to the line - an Edinburgh speciality.

After Alastair Hogg's strong straight line had exposed a chink in the Leinster defence for Godman to make it 10-6, the Edinburgh captain and flanker was binned for not rolling away.

The half ended with Edinburgh coach Andy Robinson leaving his viewing box to berate the officials on the side of the pitch, and then accompanying Mr Owens down the tunnel. It would be another 35 minutes before Leinster received their first of two second-half penalties.

And so it continued with scarcely the interruption of the interval. As the third quarter meandered along without a score, Leinster had long since become embroiled in one of those frustrating, spiders' web of a contest in this venue.

Past the hour though it was clear Edinburgh were cranking it up, another strong surge by the omnipresent Hogg upping the tempo. When fellow flanker Alan MacDonald offloaded in the tackle, rangy number eight David Callam took a searing line to score from 30 metres out.

Le Roux got Leinster going again with a trademark charge, Sexton and influential sub Christian Warner probbed before Contepomi came brilliantly to life with one of his extravagant steps and offload in a thicket of four Edinburgh defenders for Fitzgerald to score with a superb support line.

It seemed the last roll of the dice had been completed when MacDonald dived on loose ball in front of the posts to lift the penultimate siege. Great scavengers. Horrible to play against. As Leinster can testify more than anyone.

Fittingly, it was strong running by Wright and le Roux which gave Leinster a last sight of the posts when Edinburgh scavenged once too much. It seemed Edinburgh's luck had run out, but no.

Anywhere else it would have been unbelievable. Here it was almost inevitable.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 7 mins: Contepomi pen 0-3; 14 Ford try, Godman con 7-3; 26 Contepomi pen 7-6; 28 Godman pen 10-6 (half-time 10-6); 66 Callam try 15-6; 71 Fitzgerald try, Contepomi con 15-13.

EDINBURGH: H Southwell; S Webster, B Cairns, N de Luca, J Houston; P Godman, G Laidlaw; A Allori, R Ford, G Kerr, M Mustchin, B Gissing, A Hogg (capt), A MacDonald, D Callam. Replacements: G Cross for Kerr (half-time), D Blair for Webster (61-63 mins), B Meyer for Laidlaw (72 mins). Not used: A Kelly, C Hamilton, S Newlands, C MacRae. Sinbinned: Hogg (38-48 mins).

LEINSTER: G Dempsey; L Fitzgerald, B O'Driscoll, F Contepomi, R Kearney; J Sexton, C Whitaker; O le Roux, B Jackman, S Wright, L Cullen, T Hogan, S Keogh, S Jennings, J Heaslip. Replacements: M O'Kelly for Cullen (36 mins), Gleeson for Jennings (55 mins), C Warner for O'Driscoll (67 mins). Not used: B Blaney, S Knoop, C Keane, G Brown.

Referee: N Owens (Wales).