MUNSTER MAULING
Edinburgh linger in bottom six as Irish win easily
MUNSTER moved up to second and back into the Guinness Pro12 race but delivered a severe dent to Edinburgh’s hopes of a top-six finish in a match that rarely moved out of second gear.
A 28-26 win for Scarlets at Zebre yesterday afternoon dropped Edinburgh to eighth spot and so a home win was a necessity, but a catastrophic 10-minute period in which wing Tim Visser was in the sin-bin resulted in three Munster tries and an easy victory.
The home back-row of Hamish Watson, David Denton and Roddy Grant certainly opened eager to strike the early momentum with bullish running that Munster struggled to contain.
Despite the visitors holding out wing Visser, Worcester-bound stand-off Tom Heathcote rewarded the bright start by smashing an Exocet-like penalty between the uprights after four minutes.
Edinburgh had lost scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne before kick-off with a chest injury, a legacy of last week’s win over London Irish, and Denton was to follow just 12 minutes in.
Watson scattered the Munster side as effectively as a sudden burst of hailstones did fans surrounding the pitch, breaking off a stolen Munster lineout on a 30-metre run into the visitors’ half.
The Edinburgh line-out was sound and the scrum earned penalties, but from a great line-out platform on the 22, the hosts lost the ball in the maul and a Munster counter-attack ended in a penalty that Ian Keatley kicked to level matters after 20 minutes.
The Irishmen lifted the tempo through their forwards and after Edinburgh scrambled to deny Felix Jones, after he charged down an attempted clearance by Nathan Fowles, a series of Munster mauls ended with a pile of red jerseys across the home line and hooker Duncan Casey claiming the game’s first try eight minutes from half-time.
Edinburgh finished the half strongly but could not pierce the formidable Munster defence.
Munster started the second half brighter and harried Edinburgh into errors but, while the home attack stuttered, their defence remained resolute and full-back Greig Tonks’ sure boot eased tensions.
Until Munster returned to their favoured maul, a penalty against Watson in a ruck leading to a kick to touch and steamrollering drive finished by No8 CJ Stander.
Edinburgh then lost Visser to the sin-bin, for a supposed ruck infringement — the winger was probably merely trying to keep warm having seen so little ball — and Conor Murray took advantage, by sniping in at Visser’s left flank after another series of Munster drives.
With Keatley’s conversion pushing Munster into a 22-3 lead, it was effectively game over with 22 minutes to play.
It turned into a farce when Welsh referee Ian Davies decided Simon Zebo had touched down a ball just before the dead-ball line, from a neat Jones chip ahead, when Zebo clearly did not think he had placed any downward pressure on the ball.
He kept smiling all the way back to his half, but will be delighted at taking over from Doug Howlett as the club’s greatest try-scorer in the league with 23 touchdowns.
For Edinburgh it was a toss-up between the biting cold that took hold around BT Murrayfield and the red-shirted procession that drove more pain into the bones as Keith Earls finished off a fifth try after escaping Sam Beard’s tackle.
Visser returned to the field with possibly the biggest ever punishment dished out to a side for a yellow card — Munster having scored an astonishing three tries and rattled up 19 unanswered points in the 10 minutes he was in the bin.
There was no way back for Edinburgh and any positives from their ability to compete for spells in a physical encounter paled against the ten-minute obliteration and comprehensive nature of the defeat.
Now they have a real fight to make the top six and qualify for next season’s European Champions Cup.