Another defeat in Scotland, but its the same story from Joe Schmidt, after losing to Glasgow in week one he cited a lack of hunger in his team. And on Friday night he again seen more desire in the opposition:
"I take my hat off, Edinburgh were a bit more desperate. They had three defeats in a row and I thought they got on top and bullied us a little bit. It's something we're going to have to rebound quickly from with Munster next weekend"
Leinster had again taken a lead into half time. Isa Nacewa was proving unerringly accurate, slotting three penalties in addition to Rob Kearney's monster effort from 55 metres. But that was largely the range Schmidt's side was working from.
"We didn't really get a platform in their half." Said the Kiwi, "It was very very hard to maintain the ball from a few set-pieces we let slip, then we couldn't really get momentum in the game. Then it felt like we were back peddling for a heck of a lot."
They were on the back foot from half time until the Scots were out of sight. The bonus point came through tries from Tim Visser, Mark Robertson and David Blair, added to Geoff Cross' first half touch down, put them 29-12 ahead with 15 minutes to play.
A telling moment was when, the 32-year-old, Chris Paterson broke through a crowded midfield and was able to sprint all of 60 metres before eventually being caught by Rob Kearney. That was not the only time the defence was shred apart, a fact which made the former Clermont coach visibly uncomfortable
"It's disconcerting, I think they just got forward momentum and we couldn't get round the corner very quickly. They looked after the ball pretty well."
"Probably then, we gave them too much space to play the way they like to play and if you do that I think they're dangerous."
Indeed, any team given that space would be dangerous. But to Leinster's credit they battled back, replacement Jamie Heaslip and then Kearney touched down to put them within a kick of a losing bonus point. The angle, however, proved too tough for Ian Madigan, even if he had struck it well.
Meanwhile across in Glasgow, Munster romped to a 43-29 win over the Warriors. And there will be plenty of worried faces around South Dublin at the prospect of Munster arriving at the Aviva Stadium next weekend.
The southern province claimed a bonus point win thanks to tries from Niall Ronan, Denis Leamy and two from new signing, Johne Murphy. Ronan O'Gara put to bed some criticism of his early season kicking, registering 20 points from nine successful efforts off the tee.
With 18 points Munster could arrive in Lansdowne road as league leaders, while their hosts languish in the bottom four. That gap Schmidt says, must be reduced by a much greater effort from whatever 15 he puts in the firing line:
"We've really got to roll our sleeves up and give an account of ourselves that we can be a little more proud of."
The first serious game of rugby at the new ground, the embattled coach will know that the result, will have a serious bearing on his tenure.
Lose: The pendulum will have swung back to Munster and provinces north and west will be snapping at their heels.
Win, and five defeats from six is suddenly forgotten, dissipated like cigar smoke outside Kiely's front door.
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