Leinster stormed to an eight-try demolition of Edinburgh at the RDS, cruising to a 54-13 victory to book a home RaboDirect PRO12 semi-final berth and send out an ominous warning of intent to their rivals, both in the league and in Europe. Joe Schmidt rested 12 players from the XV that blitzed Cardiff Blues to reach the Heineken Cup semi-final but Edinburgh, who also reached the same stage of the competition last weekend, collapsed against Leinster’s squad players at the RDS. Only Jamie Heaslip, Gordon D’Arcy and Isa Nacewa retained their places but Edinburgh folded in Dublin, leaving Leinster to pick them off at their will. Fergus McFadden endured a shaky night with the boot, beginning with a fifth-minute penalty miss, but that was soon forgotten when flanker Shane Jennings powered over to break the deadlock on eight minutes. Again McFadden was off target with the conversion however, enabling Edinburgh to level just six minutes later when Scotland centre Nick De Luca stormed over the line. Greig Laidlaw, instrumental in Edinburgh’s historic Heineken Cup victory over Toulouse, made no mistake with the conversion as the visitors took a short-lived lead – cancelled out when McFadden took matters into hand and raced over for a 15th-minute try. He contrived to miss the conversion and a penalty soon after however before finally hitting the target from the tee, handing the league leaders a 13-7 lead on 29 minutes. Leinster hooker Sean Cronin barrelled his way over just before the half-time interval as the Irish province turned the screw but again McFadden missed the conversion, leaving Edinburgh clinging on at the break at 18-7 down. Just three minutes after the break, defending European champions Leinster stretched their lead when Fionn Carr claimed Ian Madigan’s cross-field kick to touch down in the left corner – full-back Isa Nacewa assuming kicking duties and notching the conversion. Laidlaw trimmed the deficit to 12 with two quickfire penalties but in the final 20 minutes, Leinster ran riot. Nacewa put the hosts on their way with a 60th-minute penalty and five minutes later the New Zealand-born flyer converted his own try as Edinburgh fell to pieces. A flurry of substitutions then saw Kiwi No.8 Leo Auva'a force his way over with his first real involvement of the game on 67 minutes before Brendan Macken got in on the act just three minutes later. Madigan converted and when Devin Toner went through under the posts in the final minute, Leinster reached the 50-point mark before the in-form fly-half rounded off a thoroughly convincing win with the extras.
