A valiant Edinburgh battled hard but ultimately came up short in their United Rugby Championship opener, losing a pulsating 10-try encounter 31-33 against Leinster at Hive Stadium.  

The hosts did, though, salvage two losing bonus points thanks to a last-minute try from Matt Scott that brought them within seven of the Dubliners, having earlier wrapped up a try-scoring extra point.  

It was the hosts who struck first a dozen minutes in, Pierre Schoeman driving over under the posts from a tap penalty move. Ross Thompson, making his debut after a summer move from Glasgow, added the conversion to make it 7-0.  

It is impossible to keep Leinster down for too long, and wing Tommy O’Brien hit back with the visitors’ opening score.  

And the visitors hit the front when centre Charlie Tector fielded a poor Ali Price box-kick, only to sell the Scotland scrum-half an outrageous dummy and score. Prendergast made no mistake with the conversion.  

Edinburgh’s highlight of the night came just after the half-hour, a lovely break by Thompson and an audacious no-look offload from Jamie Ritchie put Duhan van der Merwe away for the home side’s second try. Thompson missed the conversion and it remained 12-apiece at the break.  

Dave Cherry’s try early in the second half suggested an upset was on the cards, but as is so often the way, Leinster kicked into another gear and hit back with scores from Jordan Larmour, Jamison Gibson Park and Jack Conan inside 10 second half minutes to take control.  

But the hosts hit back with 15 minutes to go, van der Merwe scoring his second of the night, and Scott’s injury-time try salvaged another bonus point for Sean Everitt’s side. 

From Hive Stadium, here are five things we learned.  

Edinburgh causing themselves problems 

The home side were, at times, masters of their own downfall. Leinster’s first try came after the hosts failed to clear their lines having taken the lead and the second score was a direct result of a dreadfully executed box-kick from Ali Price, who compounded the error by falling for an outrageous dummy as Charlie Tector raced clear.  

It was a similar story early in the second half after Cherry’s try. The hosts failed to get out of their own territory before handing over possession, and Leinster took full advantage as Larmour crossed.  

Evidence of Edinburgh’s improvements in attack 

To offer balance to this point, with rain coming down practically sideways, conditions were not conducive to a night of running rugby but having talked about a more expansive gameplan in Sean Everitt’s second season, there was little evidence of that tonight.  

As was the way last season, Edinburgh kicked a lot – but too often poorly, surrendering possession to the visitors. A week on from a terrific try against Gloucester, Darcy Graham was a virtual bystander and Wes Goosen, who shone in the absence of the Scotland wing last season, spent most of the evening on defensive duty, one half-break aside. 

When they did move the ball wide, they looked dangerous and scored two excellent tries through van der Merwe. More of that should mean bring greater rewards than the losing bonus point it salvaged tonight.  

Emiliano Boffelli injury woes continue 

Edinburgh were dealt a blow before kick-off with the news that Argentina fullback Emiliano Boffelli, who had been due to start on the bench, was out of the squad. In Matt Scott, they had a quality replacement to call upon, but the Argentine has hardly played since first suffering a back injury towards the end of last season.  

Edinburgh will hope this issue is nothing serious and he is fit to travel for their two-match tour of South Africa.  

Impact from the bench 

Having been a star signing over the summer, the sight of Magnus Bradbury’s name among the Edinburgh replacements was a surprise. Likewise Ben Healy, who played almost every minute of Edinburgh’s league campaign last season.  

Bradbury in particular was among those to make a decent impact from the bench, along with props Boan Venter and D’Arcy Rae, who got the upper hand of France veteran Rabah Slimani on his Leinster debut.  

Healy missed a long-range penalty that would have given Edinburgh a second losing bonus point before kicking straight out as the hosts chased the game. The late introduction of Ben Vellacott was a curious decision given the night hadn’t gone Ali Price’s way.  

Leinster’s squad depth too strong  

The visitors travelled without many of their Ireland internationals, with Andrew Porter, Tadhg Furlong, Joe McCarthy, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris and Robbie Henshaw among those not required. 

Still, as they have done to many teams over the years, they proved too strong for Edinburgh’s first-choice side. 

Edinburgh: Wes Goosen, Darcy Graham, Mosese Tuipulotu, Matt Currie (Scott 27), Duhan van der Merwe, Ross Thompson (Healy 57), Ali Price (Vellacott 64); Pierre Schoeman (Venter 55), Dave Cherry (Ashman 50), Paul Hill (Rae 50), Marshall Sykes, Grant Gilchrist [c] (Hodgson 67), Jamie Ritchie (Bradbury 58), Hamish Watson, Ben Muncaster 

Tries: Schoeman (11), van der Merwe (32, 66), Cherry (42), Scott (80) 

Conversions: Thompson (12, 43), Healy (80) 

Leinster: Jamie Osborne; Tommy O’Brien (Russell 18), Garry Ringrose, Charlie Tector, Jordan Larmour; Sam Prendergast (Byrne 58), Jamison Gibson-Park (McGrath 61); Michael Milne (Healy 47), Gus McCarthy (McKee 50), Thomas Clarkson (Slimani 50), Conor O’Tighearnaigh (Deeny 50), James Ryan, Max Deegan, Scott Penny (Culhane 72) (Penny 73), Jack Conan (captain).  

Tries: O’Brien (15), Tector (26), Larmour (47), Gibson Park (53), Conan (58) 

Conversions: Prendergast (27, 47, 54, 58) 

Yellow card: Byrne (76) 

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy) 

Attendance: 7,774 

Player of the Match: Jamison Gibson Park