Sexton stars in Leinster victory.

Two tries from Brendan Macken and an impeccable kicking display from Jonathan Sexton helped Leinster to a narrow 22-16 victory over Edinburgh in the RabboDirectPro12 at the RDS on Saturday evening.

Macken, a first half replacement for Gordon Darcy, crossed twice to help the reigning European Champions make it three wins in a row to move up to second in the Pro12 table.

Sexton contributed 12 points in total. He scored the opening try of the game after eight minutes before adding the conversion. He then converted a penalty to give Leinster a 10-0 lead early in the first half.

Edinburgh hit back with two penalties through the boot of Greg Laidlaw to go in trailing by just four points at the break.

Leinster began the second half the better as the visitors had two men in the bin and the Blues took full advantage as Macken crossed for his first try of the night after 57 minutes.

The Centre then put the hosts into a commanding position with 14 minutes remaining as he crossed for his second of the night to put his side 22-9 up.

However, Edinburgh made sure it would be a nervy ending for the European champions when WP Nel crossed with eight minutes left before Laidlaw added the extras to leave just six points in the game going into the final minutes.

Leinster did enough to hold on for a deserved victory and they now look to be building momentum as the season heads towards the opening rounds of the Heineken Cup.