Edinburgh 19-21 Leinster..Bugger, Edinburgh gave it away
Edinburgh 19-21 Leinster
Edinburgh (6) 19
Try: Cairns Cons: Paterson Pens: Paterson 4
Leinster (6) 21
Pens: McFadden 6 Drop-goal: Sexton
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Leinster moved up to second place in the Magners winning run of leaders Edinburgh in a dramatic finish at Murrayfield.
Edinburgh's Ben Cairns scored the only try of the night. But the home side were sunk by six penalties from the boot of Leinster's Fergus McFadden and a drop goal from John Sexton in the final minute.
Chris Paterson kicked Edinburgh's other points, but his final kick of the game to win the match fell just short. Edinburgh were looking for their fourth win in a row.
But, with Leinster having their Lions back in harness, it was never going to be easy.
Leinster opened the scoring with a McFadden penalty after three minutes, but four minutes later Paterson levelled.
The home side looked the more likely to go ahead with Cairns and Nick De Luca dangerous in midfield. However, solid hits from Jamie Heaslip and Nathan Hines stopped a couple of attacks when the try looked on.
On the half-hour mark, Paterson put Edinburgh ahead, but McFadden pulled the sides level on the half-time whistle with his second penalty. The Leinster kicker slotted two more penalties in the first 10 minutes of the second half to open a gap. But, on 56 minutes, Edinburgh grabbed the only try of the night.
Ally Hogg started the move off the back of the scrum and the ball was worked to Cairns, who shrugged off a couple of tackles to crash over. Paterson's conversion took Edinburgh into a one-point lead, but McFadden took advantage of Edinburgh indiscipline to slot a further two penalties and Leinster desperately defended their lead.
In a frantic final 10 minutes, Paterson banged over two penalties to give Edinburgh the lead again at 19-18.
Straight from the restart, though, Sexton dropped a goal to put Leinster back ahead.
Then came that agonising last-ditch penalty miss by Paterson.
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Edinburgh: Paterson, Robertson, Cairns, De Luca, Visser, Godman, M. Blair, Traynor, Ford, G. Cross, C. Hamilton, MacLeod, MacDonald, Grant, Hogg.
Replacements: Houston for De Luca (41), Jacobsen for Traynor (51), Kelly for Ford (54), Young for G. Cross (71), Newlands for Grant (64). Not Used: S. Turnbull, Laidlaw.
Leinster: R. Kearney, Horgan, McFadden, D'Arcy, Fitzgerald, Berne, Reddan, Healy, Fogarty, Wright, Cullen, Hines, McLaughlin, O'Brien, Heaslip.
Replacements: Sexton for Berne (41), Jackman for Fogarty (53), Ross for Wright (53), Toner for Hines (77), Jennings for McLaughlin (53). Not Used: S. Keogh, Dempsey.
Att: 5,761
Ref: Tim Hayes (WRFU)
