After Agen's recovery against Gloucester on Friday night, Leinster's task was uncomplicated: win and they were guaranteed a place in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals; win with a bonus and it was another step towards a 'home' draw at that stage of the competition. In Leinster's case, that benefit would be purely financial, as currently they don't have a home capable of holding a big enough crowd and will have to take it elsewhere. And it looks as if they might have to find somewhere soon enough.
They can travel to Kingsholm next Friday with the kind of form that has seen them clock up 12 tries in eight days, the second half coming here. The chances are they will be making the trip without Gordon D'Arcy. Currently in the form of his life, D'Arcy hobbled off with what appeared to be a groin strain. Brian O'Driscoll, who was a late cry-off with a calf injury, will be available if needed. By now, the Gloucester game has lost the neon finish we thought it might have when Leinster were losing the first leg of their tie with Edinburgh back in October.
Nevertheless, Leinster's surging form alone is something they will want to sustain. For the first time this season their set piece has begun to look functional, both at the scrum and out of touch. They are becoming more clinical in inflicting damage on opponents hampered by having a man in the bin - they hit Edinburgh for 14 in the third quarter while Allan Jacobsen was resting up - and by the end they were firing the ball around as if it were an exhibition game. Shane Horgan got most from the experience with a hat-trick, completed with a slam-dunk finish that rounded off outstanding handling.
In a way it was carnival stuff, the team with designs on qualification comfortably outplaying the team who came to Dublin hoping that with no pressure on them they might get to a point that spoiled the party for the home team. For a while Edinburgh were awkward enough, but losing both centres in the first half didn't help their cause. In any case, they just weren't geared up for the grief they inflicted on Leinster in the corresponding fixture in 2001 when they came to Donnybrook and shut down the season for the home team.
There was a period in this game, though, when it looked as if the contest would last a while. It didn't extend beyond 25 minutes. Leinster had opened impressively, with a 30-metre maul giving them a platform in the Edinburgh 22 and their backs working it into seven points. It took two badly missed tackles to allow Rob Kearney to step inside twice to score. That saw him pick up where he left off last week with his two tries against the Ospreys.
In these circumstances Leinster's default mode is to concede points themselves, and for nearly the next 10 minutes they were battling to stop Edinburgh's mauls and their wide attacks when those attempts broke down. Typically it was D'Arcy who eased their stress, with a strong tackle and steal on Hugo Southwell. Again he was excellent, whether breaking tackles or stepping out of them.
It took Leinster until the close of the first quarter to double their scores, and it started when a clean break from D'Arcy through the middle saw him one on one with Southwell before openside Alan MacDonald did really well to haul him down from behind. Speed from the ruck would be the difference between scoring and not, and in fairness to Chris Whitaker his delivery was excellent. It allowed Horgan the luxury of leaving Denis Hickie unused out wide and Leinster were 14-0 ahead.
It wasn't at that point that they kicked on and left Edinburgh for dead, and within five minutes they had surrendered a try themselves. A lovely break through the heart of the Leinster defence by Marcus di Rollo was finished out wide by Southwell. Chris Paterson couldn't add the points, but at least it stemmed the flow. Well, until after half time.
They were 20-5 down at the break, and despite a Ben Cairns try after 43 minutes, there would be no comeback. Two penalties from the man of the match, Felipe Contepomi, and a Horgan try put Leinster out to 30-10 before Jacobsen walked and the gates opened. They got a standing ovation at the finish. D'Arcy's injury notwithstanding, things couldn't have gone much better.
Donnybrook 6,433
Leinster Kearney; Horgan, Lewis, D'Arcy (D'Arcy 74), Hickie (Fitzgerald 69); Contepomi (capt), Whitaker (Easterby 68); Wright, Jackman (Vermaas 74), Green (Corrigan 72), Hogan, O'Kelly (Finegan 72), Keogh, Gleeson (Jowitt 72), Heaslip
Tries Kearney, Contepomi, Horgan 3, Keogh Cons Contepomi 5 Pens Contepomi 3
Edinburgh Southwell; Paterson, Di Rollo (Easson 33), Dey (Jorgensen 38), Cairns; Godman, Senio; Jacobsen, Lawrie (Kelly 59), Dickinson (Hewett 53), Pringle (Turnbull 63), Murray, Strokosch, MacDonald, Taylor (Callam 57)
Tries Southwell, Cairns
Referee D Pearson (England)
