EDINBURGH’S DISMAL Heineken Cup continued among at Murrayfield yesterday, but Munster were barely happier with their lot as they left the capital without a bonus point after a 26-17 win.
The Irishmen had more than enough ball and a huge advantage in the setpiece, but managed only two of the four tries they needed to boost their quarter-final chances, one of which was a penalty award.
Edinburgh crossed the whitewash for the first time in what has been a desperate shambles of a European campaign, Dougie Fife’s late brace of scores only partially compensating for another dispiriting display for the outnumbered home fans.
However, both teams, quarter-finalists last year, may miss out on the last eight, with Munster needing a bonus point against Racing Metro and results to go their way in the final round of games next weekend.
“Bottom line is it’s another loss at home, our fifth in a row in this competition, which is not great,” said Edinburgh coach Michael Bradley.
“We got two good tries which is nice to see at last in this competition, and you saw us grow in confidence when Greig (Laidlaw) came back in the second half.”
The 10 minute sin-binning of the skipper in the second half was “a bit harsh”, according to Bradley, but he accepted it didn’t have any bearing on the result.
The stands were awash with Munster’s support in a clear majority, their team enjoying a similar superiority on the pitch in the opening 40 minutes.
However the fans from Ireland’s South West were frustrated by their team’s conservative approach when they were in such sore need of tries.
Ronan O’Gara was content to pin Edinburgh in their 22 with the boot and wait for errors rather than force the ball wide, and Munster’s chief attacking weapon was their scrum after Allan Jacobsen was a late call-off.
O’Gara chipped an easy penalty for a three-minute lead when Greg Tonks was engulfed by a red wave taking a high ball in his own 22, but the veteran fly-half missed an easy chance to double their lead on 18 minutes.
Between those attempts Edinburgh had two scrums and a tap free-kick on the Munster line after a botched lineout move by the Irishmen, but they tried to muscle their way over and lost possession.
O’Gara’s field kicking soon built a foundation for his team, forcing three scrums inside the Edinburgh 22 that resulted in referee Jonathan Gasnier penalising the home front row, and the former Lions 10 kicked all three.
Laidlaw countered with one penalty for Edinburgh, but they were fortunate not to be further down at half-time when Munster opted to tap a penalty in front of the posts and a wild pass ended up being knocked on.
That error was compounded early in the second half when Dave Kilcoyne was sin-binned for obstructing Laidlaw as the Edinburgh skipper tried to inject some pace with a quick tap penalty.
However, Laidlaw was sin-binned in controversial circumstances as he illegally palmed the ball out of play after a chip by Conor Murray into the in-goal area.
Even a man down in the forwards, Munster put on enough pressure at the next scrum that the home pack buckled and the ref awarded a penalty try, converted by O’Gara.
Munster heaped the pressure on again and Murray crashed over from close range after good work from centre James Downey.
Munster went in search of the two tries they needed but they were far too frantic, and instead Matt Scott’s searing run past two defenders into the 22 set up position for Fife to go over for Edinburgh’s first try after 400 minutes of play in this European campaign.
The young wing followed with another with three minutes left, bouncing off tackles under the posts after he came off his wing to take a sharp inside ball from Laidlaw.
Attendance 6,220
Edinburgh G Tonks, D Fife, B Cairns (B Atiga 55), M Scott, T Visser, G Laidlaw (capt), R Rees, R Hislop (A Allan 70), S Lawrie (A Titterall 48), W Nel (G Cross 70), G Gilchrist (N Talei 70), S Cox, S McInally, D Basilaia (R Grant 41), D Denton.
Munster F Jones, D Howlett (capt), K Earls, J Downey (C Lualua 63), S Zebo, R O’Gara (I Keatley 65), C Murray (D Williams 70), D Kilcoyne, D Varley, B J Botha, D O’Callaghan (B Holland 70), D Ryan, P O’Mahony, T O’Donnell, J Coughlan (P Butler 70).
Referee J Gasnier (RFU)