Edinburgh head coach Andy Robinson labelled his side's first-half display against Leinster as the worst in his time at the club
Coach expresses anger at 'unacceptable' first-half
Edinburgh head coach Andy Robinson labelled his side's first-half display against Leinster as the worst in his time at the club.
Robinson's team suffered the worst possible start to their Heineken Cup campaign as they were beaten 27-16 at Murrayfield.
The Magners league champions ran in four unanswered first-half tries as missed tackles cost Edinburgh dear.
Robinson was angry at the break and laid into his men, but it wasn't enough as Leinster held on for their first win in five attempts at the venue for this seasons' final.
Unacceptable
"The first-half performance for a professional rugby side is unacceptable. Let's not hide away from it," he said.
"To concede four tries as we did and in the manner they were conceded is unacceptable - and I've explained that to the players."
"We have let down the Edinburgh supporters and I take responsibility for this."
Edinburgh have now lost five out of the last six games, and the former England coach added: "We can't keep going on about missed opportunities and 'if onlys'.
"At some stage, we've got to grow as a team. That Leinster team, when you watch the game today, were there for the taking.
"They weren't as slick as I've seen them. However, when they got in behind us, they took their chances.
"It's unacceptable to me that they got into those positions because it was all down to missed tackles.
"Rugby's a tough sport but every single player has got to be able to make their tackles and today we dropped off tackles."
Robinson also vented his fury towards the officials, claiming they didn't do enough to punish some of the tactics from the visitors.
"Every time we got in behind Leinster, a deliberate penalty got given away and I wanted the referee to understand that," he stated.
"We had one penalty try - it was clear cut. I thought potentially there was a second one. I needed the fourth official to communicate that to the referee.
"It's one of those that's just very, very frustrating. It's happened to us quite often."
He added: "The referee did not lose us that game. As I've always tried to explain to the team, we win or lose matches."
Opportunities
Leinster boss Michael Cheika was delighted with the result, especially picking up a bonus point at a venue that has not been kind to them in recent times.
"I don't think we ever expect to get a bonus point up here," he said.
"There were parts of the game where we performed very well and there were parts of the game when we didn't perform very well.
"We were able to take the opportunities at times when we were going really well, which pretty much made the difference because they were right in it until the end."
