Leinster gunned down

Leinster's hopes of Heineken Cup qualification were derailed by a 29-10 defeat against Edinburgh at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Tries from Simon Webster (32) and Ben Cairns (53) and a perfect kicking display from Phil Godman (16 points) gave Edinburgh their first victory of the campaign.

The Gunners remain rooted to the bottom of Pool Six, but head coach Andy Robinson will take great heart from such a hard-fought victory against the Magners League leaders.

Battle

Leinster made a bright start following their 28-14 win against the same oppositon at home last time out and Felipe Contepomi's penalty put the visitors into an early 3-0 lead.

But the Edinburgh line was holding firm and Godman kicked three penalties of his own to hand Edinburgh a six point advantage on the half hour mark.

Then came a moment of brilliance from the home side after they had won a lineout on halfway. The ball was swept wide through Nick De Luca and Andrew Turnbull and the winger then showed great pace to send his wing partner Webster over the line for the game's opening try. Godman converted and Edinburgh had a 16-3 lead.

Leinster responded with a period of intense pressure and were awarded a penalty try on the stroke of half-time when Brian O'Driscoll was tackled by De Luca off the ball as he tried to get on the end of Contepomi's kick into the in-goal area.

The Argentinean fly-half kicked the extras and Leinster went into half-time 16-10 down.

Example

Mike Blair's drop goal extended Edinburgh's lead to nine after the restart and Cairns then latched on to a suicidal Rob Kearney pass five metres from his own line to give Edinburgh a 24-10 lead. Godman again kicked the conversion and Robinson's side had a healthy 16 point advantage.

Skipper Blair got back to deny O'Driscoll in the in-goal area as Leinster attempted to stage a comeback and the Gunners held firm under yet another sustained period of pressure on their line.

Godman kicked his fourth penalty of the match in the dying minutes and Edinburgh had a valiant 29-10 victory.

Both sides face Leicester Tigers and Toulouse in the remaining weeks of the campaign, but their quarter-final hopes are done and dusted.