Ryan saves the day for Munster

Magners League/Edinburgh 7 Munster 11:Munster shattered Edinburgh's dream of landing their first Magners League crown at Murrayfield this evening

The Gunners had been on course for a narrow but nervy success when scrum-half Ben Meyer pounced for an opportunist score.

But lock Donnacha Ryan powered over for the late try that mattered most.

Edinburgh made the brighter start — however there was gloom in the ranks as they squandered a golden opportunity to draw first blood.

Slick interplay featuring Phil Godman and John Houston set up a ruck close to the Munster danger-zone and they were pressured into giving away a penalty.

The ball was teed up dead in front of the target at less than 30 metres range, but Godman watched in anguish as it slid past the post.

Possession and territory were pretty even in the opening half hour with virtually all the action being confined to the expanse between the 22-areas.

Defences held the upper hand with both sides putting in some awesome thumps.

Godman was back in the spotlight in the build up to the break when he was handed another chance to edge the Gunners in front.

The kick was from longer range and at an angle, however it suffered the same fate as the first effort and again Munster were off the hook.

Even worse was to come for the stand-off just two minutes later when attempt number three also drifted agonisingly wide.

Then in stoppage time, Munster were reduced to 14 men as winger Ian Dowling was sinbinned.

Unsurprisingly Godman opted to set up a line-out instead of going for goal — but the Gunners could not finish.

Edinburgh suffered three further setbacks after the restart.

First, winger Roly Reid was yellow carded for a dangerous tackle on All Blacks hero Doug Howlett — then Munster's Paul Warwick showed Godman how it is done by slotting the penalty which edged his side in front.

Warwick was spot-on again to punish the Gunners when they were guilty of handling in a ruck.

The contest burst wide open 15 minutes from time.

Meyer seemed to lose grip of the ball, but regained his composure to dash through a half gap — giving Godman a formality of a conversion.

Then came Ryan's clincher for the Irish brigade.