RUGBY UNION
Leinster end troubled season on a high
By Daire Walsh
IT has been a difficult few months for Leinster on the field of play, but they did manage to conclude their Guinness Pro12 campaign in a positive frame of mind at Murrayfield on Saturday afternoon.
A Round 20 defeat to Ulster in Belfast had brought an end to the Blues’ reign as league champions, but despite gaining a safe passage to next season’s European Rugby Champions Cup with a tentative success over Benetton Treviso on home soil a week beforehand, their away encounter with Edinburgh was by no means a dead rubber.
In theory, a fifth-place Pro12 finish offers Matt O’Connor’s men a better chance of securing a more favourable pool draw in Europe, while Edinburgh knew that they needed a win if they were to join their opponents in the top-six.
Indeed, Connacht were one point ahead of them in seventh position, and with this placing offering an alternative route to the Champions Cup via the play-off system, Edinburgh could ill-afford to slip up.
The Scottish outfit opened the scoring with a penalty from scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, but after Ian Madigan (making a rare appearance at out-half) responded with a three-pointer of his own, a terrific try by the returning Noel Reid placed Leinster in the driving seat.
A converted score from flanker Hamish Watson soon restored parity for the Challenge Cup finalists, before fantastic build-up play courtesy of Madigan and Dave Kearney enabled Jack Conan to register his third try of the season.
This provided Leinster with a 17-10 interval platform, and despite conceding a second penalty to Hidalgo-Clyne when the action resumed, the four-time winners were in pole position for their 11th triumph of the term when Zane Kirchner crossed over.
Contributions from Hidalgo-Clyne and Tim Visser (try) did help Edinburgh to move into the ascendancy again, but a strong finish to the proceedings by Leinster (which yielded tries for Luke McGrath and Jordi Murphy) meant that they eventually succumbed to a 35-23 defeat.
As a result, Edinburgh came away empty-handed, and with a late rally inspiring Connacht towards a losing bonus point against the Ospreys, it is the Westerners who will take on Gloucester in a two-legged play-off for the Champions Cup.
Kildare native Fionn Carr was given a chance to shine in the Connacht defence, and even though they trailed by all of 24 points at the mid-way stage in the contest, 20 unanswered second-half points (including tries from Eoghan Masterson and Denis Buckley) meant that Pat Lam’s side enjoyed a productive afternoon of rugby in the Sportsground.
The failure of the Ospreys to register a bonus point means that Munster will have home advantage in their Pro12 semi-final. Anthony Foley’s Red Army displayed a welcome ruthless streak in a 50-27 win against Newport Gwent Dragons, while Ulster fell to a 32-10 reversal away to Glasgow on the same day.
The northern province kept many of their big names in reserve, however, and they will be a much tougher proposition for the Warriors in Scotstoun this Friday evening in a mouth-watering last-four clash.