Leinster have secured their place in the quarter final of the Heineken Cup with a comprehensive 48-19 win over Swansea in Pool 4 at Donnybrook tonight. Leinster started slowly enough but established a 20-6 advantage at half time, running in three tries from Victor Costello, Keith Gleeson and Denis Hickie.
It was still very competitive until midway through the second half with Swansea only 13 points adrift but in the final quarter it was all Leinster. Further tries from Aidan McCullen and another excellent Hickie try put Leinster firmly in control.
Then Swansea saw substitute hooker Chris Wells sin-binned in the dying seconds but there was still time for replacement back row Des Dillon and then Gordon Darcy to cross the try line to complete another night of Welsh misery.
In Pool 5 Edinburgh produced a superb comeback to warm a shivering Murrayfield crowd and gain a measure of Heineken Cup revenge against London Irish with a 32-25 victory. The Scots looked to be dead and buried, trailing by 12 points and with a man in the sin-bin 15 minutes from time. But the fired-up Gunners suddenly found their feet to score three tries in the closing five minutes.
Stand-off Brendan Laney, winger Conan Sharman and skipper Todd Blackadder all notched touchdowns as the match was turned on its head.
Elsewhere in Pool 3 Llanelli beat Bourgoin 37-22 and Sale defeated Glasgow 45-3.
Filed by Johnny Proby
