Leinster 37-28 Edinburgh: Scots outgunned by leaders Leinster

• Newcastle-bound Ally Hogg was unable to prevent Edinburgh going down to Leinster in Dublin

EDINBURGH gave one of their most spirited performances of the season last night in Dublin but still went down to a never-say-die Leinster outfit who finished top of the regular season table. Munster's loss in Cardiff in a game played at the same time meant Edinburgh would not have qualified anyway but they still gave a terrific account of themselves in front of a palpably nervous RDS crowd.

Edinburgh's attacking intent in the opening 10 minutes of the game reflected head coach Rob Moffat's pre-game talk of being able to beat the best teams in Europe, but Leinster's big-hitters Brian O'Driscoll, Isa Nacewa and Rob Kearney gradually began to apply pressure of their own and opened up a few half gaps in the Edinburgh defence.

The Scots' scrum was also on the end of serious pressure from the much maligned Leinster eight. And it was from one of these rapidly retreating scrums that the game took a wholly unexpected turn.

Returning No8 Ally Hogg did wonderfully to pluck the ball from the scrum and gained yardage upfield from just inside his own 22. The ball was recycled and moved close to the left touchline, Greig Laidlaw passing out to Roddy Grant. The Edinburgh captain linked with left winger Mark Robertson who ran the ball well into the Leinster half before passing to flying full back Jim Thompson who raced home under the posts. Godman added the extras.

A second try almost arrived moments later when second row Steven Turnbull managed to hack the ball upfield. Tim Visser was first to the rolling ball. He toed it further upfield towards the right corner flag. Visser was clear of the defence and a try beckoned but the ball just rolled into touch.

It wasn't long until Edinburgh doubled their score, though. Again attacking up the left side of the pitch, Godman fed to Visser. The Leinster defence appeared to be frozen as Visser combined with full-back Thompson to give Robertson a good angle to attack the covering defence. The winger stepped in off his left foot and powered away from four defenders to touch down under the posts. Godman again converted.

Clearly stung, Leinster were desperate for points before half-time.

From another powerful scrum inside the Edinburgh 22 Jamie Heaslip picked and drove. When he was downed, Kevin McLaughlin drove further. With the Edinburgh defence scattered the next man looked certain to score, prop Cian Healy was that man and he plunged over the Edinburgh line. Nacewa converted. Hogg then did well to break up a dangerous attack, but from the resulting penalty Nacewa was on target to reduce the deficit to 10-14 at half-time.

The second-half started at the same pace the first finished. From an innocuous position on his own ten-metre line Nacewa received the ball from Heaslip. Some dazzling footwork took him past four Edinburgh defenders before he passed to veteran winger Shane Horgan. Horgan managed to make it to the line despite a desperate attempt by Robertson to stop him. Nacewa converted and Leinster were now 17-14 to the good .

Geoff Cross replaced Kyle Traynor 15 minutes into the second-half and this immediately had the Edinburgh scrum moving forward.

Heaslip, though, managed to truck the ball forward and Edinburgh were caught not rolling away. Nacewa slotted the penalty.

Edinburgh now mounted their first serious attack of the second-half. Godman linking well again with his outside backs, Thompson and Visser to take the attack to within five metres of the try line. Just when a quickly recycled ball would have asked serious questions of the defence, Heaslip stuck a hand in and committed the professional foul.

Down to 14 men Leinster still managed to clear their lines but not for long. Godman again initiated an attack through Hogg and Cairns. Second row Turnbull took the ball further.

Cross picked from five metres out and drove towards the line; despite the attentions of three defenders he managed to touch the ball down.

Godman converted to give Edinburgh the lead .

Almost from the kick-off Edinburgh added their fourth try as centre Nick de Luca passed Robertson into space and he darted home under the posts.

Heaslip, whose absence had seen Edinburgh score 14 points, now returned to the action and with it came a huge rise in the game tempo.

Nacewa was on target with a penalty that saw Allan Jacobsen sin-binned and with minutes to go Leinster forced a series of scrums ten metres from the Edinburgh line.

Hogg was next to see yellow after a series of punishing Leinster line drives were bravely thwarted with the game now in injury-time. But, down to 13 men, Edinburgh could not hold out and Leinster flanker Stephen Keogh eventually ploughed over. Nacewa added the conversion to give Leinster a 30-28 lead.

The final action of the match saw a Godman drop goal attempt charged down. Rob Kearney hacked up field and touched down for the try which Nacewa converted.

Scorers: Edinburgh: Tries: Thompson, Robertson 2 , Cross. Cons: Godman 4. Leinster: Tries: Healy, Horgan , Keogh, Kearney. Cons: Nacewa 3. Pens: Nacewa 3

Leinster: R Kearney, S Horgan, B O'Driscoll, G D'Arcy, G Dempsey, I Nacewa, S, E Reddan ; C Healy, J Fogarty. S Wright, L Cullen (capt), N Hines, K McLaughlin, D Ryan, J Heaslip. Subs used: M Ross, S Keogh, F McFadden,

Edinburgh: J Thompson, M Robertson, B Cairns, N De Luca, T Visser, P Godman, G Laidlaw, A Jacobsen, R Ford, K Traynor, S MacLeod, S Turnbull, A MacDonald, R Grant (capt), A Hogg. Subs used : A Kelly, G Cross, S Newlands.

Attendance: 11,836

Referee: P Fitzgibbon (Ire)