This is not what Ireland and Joe Schmidt needed just one week out from France.
Leinster have beaten Edinburgh 39-10 in a Guiness Pro12 encounter at the RDS.
The home side were made to work in the first half. An excellent break from Dan Leavy brought play deep into the Edinburgh 22 and Leinster finished off he move in the corner as Barry Daly went over.
Joey Carbery, making his first start since his most recent injury, missed the conversion but made up for it with a penalty later in the half.
Edinburgh’s Duncan Weir got one back for the away side to leave the match in the balance after the 40 minute mark with the score at 8-3.
It was much improved second half performance from Leinster and they quickly got a try through Joey Carbery early in the second half to stretch their lead to 13-3.
Leinster strolled to victory thanks to further tries from Carbery, Daly, Leavy and Bryan Byrne.
Leinster will be frustrated though as they lost two of their back-row players in the first half. Dominic Ryan and Josh van der Flier both left the fray early in the opening 40 minutes.
Van der Flier, looked to have done some damage to his shoulder as he left the field looking in some serious discomfort.
This will be a serious blow to Schmidt, as he would have been hoping that van der Flier could gain some valuable game time as preparations ramp up for France next week.
The 23-year-old has found himself on the bench in Ireland’s last two Six Nations fixtures but his injury now reduces the depth Ireland have in that position.
The make-up of the Leinster team is quite fragmented too, as Dominic Ryan and Rory O’Loughlin were also forced with injury in the first half.
