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Gutsy Edinburgh come up short in Dublin

5 Apr 2026

Edinburgh exited the Investec Champions Cup despite a strong showing against Leinster at Aviva Stadium, ultimately losing out 49-31 in a 13-try blockbuster in Dublin.

When Tommy O’Brien scored two tries inside the opening ten minutes to propel the hosts into a 14-0 lead, it looked like it could be a long afternoon for Sean Everitt’s side.However, back they roared with two clinically taken tries. First, Charlie Shiel anticipated Tadhg Furlong’s short ball to intercept and sear clear for the line.Merely five minutes later, Ross Thompson manoeuvred his way to a quite incredible solo try, sending Jamison Gibson-Park to the floor before putting the burners on to evade the pacy Hugo Keenan.The game continued to ebb and flow, with the sides trading two more tries each before the half ended. Grant Gilchrist was penalised somewhat harshly for not rolling away, and from the resultant lineout Jimmy O’Brien peeled off the maul for the whitewash.Two-try Tommy O’Brien was the next to give Edinburgh a gift when his flat ball landed in the hands of Ross Thompson- who gleefully claimed his brace.As the game moved towards the break, Leinster thought they’d given themselves a seven-point interval lead when Hugo Keenan reaped the rewards of quick ruck ball by Gibson-Park.

The full back evaded Charlie Shiel and Malelili Satala with some slick footwork to the eruption of the Aviva. Their jubilation was silenced with the last play of the half when Ioane went beyond Byrne’s attempted pass. Matt Currie wasn’t complaining and galloped clear to make it a two-point game at the break [28-26].

Josh Van Der Flier thought he’d provided the dream start to the second half for the Irish side.

A break by Sheehan gave Leinster the platform to attack, and although Edinburgh attempted to hold off the openside flanker with a maul, he broke out the other side to hit the turf. Upon review however, Luke Pearce and his TMO ruled out the score as Van Der Flier lost control of the ball in the grounding.

Instead it was Edinburgh who took the lead for the first time in the game just ten minutes later. The always dangerous Darcy Graham spotted space in the back-field, kicking and chasing expertly to burn away from Gibson-Park and dot down. A moment of brilliance from a man who is always capable of providing one.

The lead didn’t last long. Four minutes later some ill-discipline cost Edinburgh territory with two infringements on the five-metre line in as many minutes. A tap and go from Sheehan was clean, and the second phase was deadly.

Denied just after the interval, Josh Van Der Flier was not to be denied on this occasion, and a topsy-turvy game seung once more.

Into the last quarter the game went, with just four points in it. Daylight on the board arrived in the 63^rd minute for Leinster through substitute Thomas Clarkson after they created an overload in the left channel.

The influential Ioane offloaded to the prop, who bounced several tackles away en route to the line. Ioane himself compounded that blow two minutes later, selling Darcy Graham a theatrical dummy to buy a walk-in for 49-31.