Munster hold off Edinburgh after frenetic finish

Edinburgh 14 Munster 16

Munster clocked up their sixth win in seven matches in the Guinness Pro12 after a narrow victory over Edinburgh at Murrayfield that takes the Thomond Park men to second in the table, just below the unlikely leaders, Connacht.

The championship, however, is only a third of the way through, so it is a little early to be talking about winners. Certainly not too much championship-winning evidence could be dug out from Munster’s performance against Edinburgh, which was at times flawed and a bit flat.

What Munster did do was defend well, kick well for position and, for much of the match, control the forward battle. But they did benefit from good fortune, notably when Sam Hidalgo-Clyne’s touchline conversion attempt after Edinburgh’s only try rebounded off the upright.

Munster's scramble defence showed its efficiency in an emergency when, towards the end, an interception allowed Edinburgh's Damien Hoyland to run 60 metres before shipping the ball to his fellow flier Tom Brown, only for the left wing to be hunted down.

Edinburgh’s threat at the end of the match clearly left Munster’s head coach, Anthony Foley, shaken, though not unhappy with his side’s display.

“I’m very relieved now, but I thought we were well worth our win,” he said. “I thought we played well in the first half. We controlled a lot of the game, but then we allowed them into the game and one or two loose kicks and missed tackles allowed their back three to play with more tempo.

“Towards the end of the match we wrestled the game back from them. We had a five-metre scrum and the referee calls a free kick. We should have parked up there for the remainder of the game. But we threw an intercept when we should have kicked it out of the stadium.”

The match was just seven minutes old when Edinburgh fullback Blair Kinghorn slid into touch in goal when dealing with a clever grubber kick, resulting in a five-metre scrum. Two plays later, Edinburgh's defence failed to to stop prop forward John Ryan, who dotted down at the foot of the left-hand post, leaving Ian Keatley with the easiest of conversion kicks.

A penalty by Keatley completed Munster’s scoring in a first half they dominated territorially. Edinburgh had six points from two Hidalgo-Clyne kicks.

Edinburgh’s dynamic start to the second half brought a rapid reward when Cornell du Preez sent Hoyland scorching up the right flank and the ball was moved quickly to Brown, who popped it up to Will Helu for the Tongan to dive over in the corner for what was to be an unconverted try.

If that score helped Edinburgh's confidence, then so did a long-range missed kick by Keatley and Munster's indiscipline, which reduced them to 14 men for the second time. Centre Francis Saili was the culprit and Hidalgo-Clyne claimed his third success in front of the posts for a 14-10 lead.

Munster, however, with clever positional kicking from Keatley and Conor Murray, exerted immediate pressure on Edinburgh and when Ross Ford conceded a penalty under his own posts, Keatley delivered the points. Then, after prop John Andress conceded another just inside his own half, Keatley again showed his kicking skills.

Edinburgh hit back with a late rally, triggered by Hoyland’s interception, only for Hidalgo-Clyne’s drop goal effort right at the end to be charged down, leaving Munster relieved but happy winners.

EDINBURGH: Kinghorn; Hoyland, Helu, Scott, Brown; Tonks, Hidalgo-Clyne; Dickinson, Ford, Nel; Bresler, A Toolis; Coman, Watson, Du Preez.

Replacements: Fife for Kinghorn (55 mins), Andress for Nel (65 mins), Manu for Coman (70 mins), Grant for Watson (74 mins), Strauss for Helu (80 mins). Sinbin: Tonks (76 mins).

MUNSTER: Zebo; Van den Heever, Earls, Sali, R O'Mahony; Keatley, Murray; Kilcoyne, Casey, J Ryan; D Ryan, Foley; D O'Callaghan, O'Donoghue, Stander. Replacements: Cronin for Kilcoyne (52 mins), Sagario for J Ryan (57 mins), Coghlan for O'Donoghue (65 mins), N Scannell for Casey (70 mins), Hurley for van den Heever (73 mins), Copeland for D O'Callaghan (74 mins). Sinbin: Van den Heever (12 mins), Sali (56 mins).

Referee: David Wilkinson (Ireland)

Attendance: 4,981