Van der Merwe at the double

EDINBURGH 12 MUNSTER 6

Duhan van der Merwe crossed twice as Edinburgh saw off Munster on their return to BT Murrayfield.

In an otherwise scrappy encounter, the winger was on hand to finish off two good moves to pick up four valuable points for Richard Cockerill’s side in the Guinness PRO14.

Despite the return of Scotland internationalists, Edinburgh were far from at their best, but still did enough to pick up a win that gives them breathing space from fourth-placed Ulster.

Viliame Mata thought he had given the hosts an early lead after picking up and leaping athletically over the defence at a ruck, but, after lengthy consultation, his effort was ruled out.

The visitors went ahead with a penalty after 20 minutes and it took a moment of magic from Edinburgh’s Dougie Fife to open up the game.

The full-back wriggled free halfway inside his own half and raced clear. He looked set for a sensational solo effort only to run out of gas near the 22, but he found the supporting Van der Merwe who ran in the game’s first try.

Munster forced a second half penalty to regain the lead, but, despite being down to 14 men when Jason Harries was sin binned for a dangerous tackle, the hosts set up Van der Merwe for a second try to open a six-point lead which they protected until the final whistle.