5 talking points after Leinster get a bonus point win over Edinburgh

Leinster had too much quality for the visitors at the RDS.

The injuries continue to mount

Not the best debut for rugby league import Ben Te’o, was it? The New Zealander had one carry in the opening 19 minutes of Leinster’s 33-8 win over Edinburgh and after getting tackled by Joaquin Dominguez, the New Zealander left the action holding his arm/wrist area. Nobody was getting ahead of themselves with regard to Te’o – it’s not as if people thought he would be the next SBW – but there was a lot of optimism that his set of skills could make him an ideal 13.

Moments after Te’o left the field, so too did Kane Douglas – and he was holding his arm as well. Leinster can’t seem to take the field – either in training or for a match – without leaving two or three players worse off than when they arrived.

There is a massive element of luck involved in all of this, and Leinster don’t seem to be getting much of it at the moment.

Conan continues to impress

Kevin McLaughlin mentioned earlier in the week that given his current progression, Jack Conan could be Jamie Heaslip’s successor at no 8. That might be a little hyperbolic but Conan had a good outing once again against Edinburgh. He tackled well and gained chunks of yardage consistently.

He has a little CJ Stander in him – the ability to power through tackles close to the tryline – and that served him well when he shrugged off a tackle to score. The only benefit to having so many injuries is that a lot of young players are getting an extended chance to prove themselves. Conan is one person who has really enhanced his reputation over the last few weeks.

Furlong puts himself in the shop window

Joe Schmidt mentioned during the week that Tadhg Furlong was one of about four or five tightheads that he was considering bringing into the squad after the injury to Nathan White. Furlong couldn’t have done a whole lot more to impress the national coach tonight.

The scrum was solid, he put in a massive tackle just after half-time, he ran a nice support line to almost snatch a try after Luke McGrath’s delicious reverse pass and he even deputised at scrum-half at one ruck. Furlong would be right to expect a text or a call from Schmidt over the weekend after tonight’s shift.

A solid scrum

The Leinster scrum was under a lot of pressure in Castres last week so Matt O’Connor will be delighted that they more than held their own this week, and actually improved as the game went on. Furlong and Bent gave Leinster a good platform in the first half and sub Ed Byrne contributed to a forward effort that won two straight penalties at the scrum in the second half.

Michael Bent has sandwiched two good scrummmaging peformances against Wasps and Edinburgh with a poor effort against Castres. O’Connor will be hoping the former rather than the latter is more prevalent going forward.

Backline still a bit away

Mick McGrath did cross the line in the last minute but Leinster’s backline was still a little bit off tonight. Once or twice they showed slick handling – McGrath’s behind-the-back pass for one, but overall they struggled to make inroads out wide against what was a weak Edinburgh side.

Noel Reid made a number of half breaks and Luke Fitzgerald showed glimpes of his famous fast feet but Leinster need more from their backline going forward.

The backline’s night was summed up by Fitzgerald dropping a ball in acres of space in one of the few times that Leinster spun it out wide at pace. They had lots of pace, but how many clear-cut line breaks did they actually make? Very few.