Leinster surged five points clear of Connacht at the Guinness PRO12 summit after three tries in 11 second-half minutes helped them to a 30-23 victory over Edinburgh Rugby.

Leinster led 6-3 at the interval after a nip-and-tuck first period, with Ian Madigan outscoring Jason Tovey by two penalties to one, and Jamie Ritchie seeing yellow after 34 minutes.

But the start of the second period saw a flurry of tries, with Edinburgh’s Tom Brown crossing in between scores from Luke McGrath and Josh van der Flier.

Mike Allan’s interception saw Edinburgh respond, but Fergus McFadden’s brilliant double meant the hosts claimed an all-important bonus-point.

Sean Kennedy capped off a breathless second half – in which 44 points were scored – to bring Edinburgh back again, and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne’s late penalty earned them a losing bonus.

It was Edinburgh who made a blistering start, as a brilliant collect by Cornell Du Preez from the kick-off saw Alasdair Dickinson burst forward before the hosts were pinged.

Tovey made no mistake with the third-minute penalty, but Leinster were soon back on level terms as they immediately piled on the pressure inside the Edinburgh 22.

The Boys in Blue ground their maul forwards, and after van der Flier’s carry they were awarded the penalty which Madigan knocked over on eight minutes.

Leinster broke again from the kick-off and were in front four minutes later, with Ross Ford the man penalised as Edinburgh again conceded a shot at goal inside the 22.

Madigan chipped through from bang in front of the uprights, and while there were no more points scored in the first period there was no shortage of entertaining rugby.

Edinburgh progressed to the five-metre line after Brown’s electrifying break, with Du Preez again involved on 16 minutes, but solid defence from Leinster forced the knock-on.

It was end-to-end stuff as both sides attacked but made errors inside the 22, although Edinburgh’s Ritchie was sin-binned for repeated team infringements six minutes before the break.

But Leinster did not have to wait long after the interval to open their try account for the evening, as they broke through the midfield and crossed the whitewash on 44 minutes.

Scrum-half McGrath was the man to touch down, after a clever lineout move between Mick Kearney and Richardt Strauss took the home side 30 metres downfield, and Madigan’s conversion made it 13-3.

But Edinburgh were not to be outdone, and responded almost immediately through Brown, who galloped down the sideline to cross in the corner – although the conversion attempt sailed wide from Tovey.

And the scores were coming thick and fast with van der Flier completing a fine Leinster break just two minutes later, Madigan adding the extras, before McFadden got in on the act on 58 minutes with the Boys in Blue piling on the pressure on the Edinburgh line.

The visitors kept themselves in the contest in the face of the Leinster barrage with Allan picking off a loose pass to score at the other end, but the remarkable second half continued with McFadden going over again just after the hour.

Madigan combined with Ben Te’o and McFadden to send the winger over in the right corner, and despite his conversion sailing wide the lead was now 30-15.

Edinburgh’s replacements were making their mark though with Hamish Watson making a series of devastating carries to take his side to the five-metre line, before another man off the bench in Kennedy picked the ball off the base of a ruck to squirm over the line for the seventh try of the half.

Damien Hoyland’s storming break almost saw the winger go over, but it was that man McFadden again who halted his progress, although the resulting penalty from Sam Hidalgo-Clyne did at least ensure his side did not leave Ireland empty-handed.

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