Coach is left to regret the one that got away

EDINBURGH coach Richard Cockerill said he took consolation in defeat from his side’s performance at Thomond Park, but recognised they got the result they deserved due to a couple of key errors.

A lineout malfunction in their own 22 allowed Munster in for their opening try after nine minutes, while Edinburgh were unable to launch a late maul after another set-piece failure as they went in search of a smash-and-grab victory.

A third place finish in Conference B, a Pro14 quarter-final defeat at Thomond Park and an appearance in the Challenge Cup semi-final is a very positive first season for Cockerill, but he lamented the chance that got away.

‘It was a good contest. I’m very proud of Edinburgh’s performance. It’s a game that if we had been a little bit more accurate at times, it’s certainly a game that we could have won,’ said Cockerill.

‘But ultimately you get what you deserve and in the end we got what we deserved. To push this side at this stadium so close, and they are defending for their lives at the end, we should take a huge amount of pride in that.

‘We built some solid foundations to try and build from. We are not in the same league as these guys or the Leinsters or others but it’s a good starting point for us. We have shown today that at least we can compete and we have the respective of the teams going forward.’

The loss of Jamie Richie from the openside was a blow to Edinburgh, and Munster enjoyed more dominance in that area, compared to the 12-6 win they claimed over the Irish province at Murrayfield in March.

Cockerill confirmed the flanker suffered a head knock in Friday’s captain’s run before the team departed.

‘He has a collision in the team run yesterday,’ he said. ‘It was just an accident, just a pure freak. He was having symptoms.

‘He didn’t travel with us so we made that decision before we left. There was Cornell du Preez who was sat on the bench and Lewis Carmichael was the only other player that was fit.

‘Munster have got experience through the spine of the team that we haven’t got at the moment, but we’ll learn that. We have to learn the lessons from today.

‘It’s a four point ball game and we gave them seven from the lineout and out lineout’s been very good all year. That’s seven points and we loose by four.’