URC: Munster 20 Edinburgh 19
For the second week in succession Munster found a way to win a United Rugby Championship match that could easily have escaped their clutches. On the back of a few outstanding individual performances, with Tom Farrell, Fineen Wycherley and Mikey Milne standouts, they forged the narrowest of victories but one that was facilitated by their opponents rank ill-discipline.
Four Edinburgh players received yellow cards, and the visitors conceded 14 penalties and yet with the final play of the match, they reached the threshold of the Munster 22, only to make one final error. Relief was the overwhelming emotion but for the home side the knack of winning when below par is not to be sniffed at; they go to Croke Park next week, unbeaten.
Munster enjoyed an ideal start, after just 80 seconds, and it followed on from a hat-trick of Edinburgh errors, the second of which saw them switch off after the ball went into touch. Andrew Smith took a quick throw to his fellow wing Calvin Nash, the Irish international chipped through and a footrace ensued.
Darcy Graham was first to reach the ball, but it eluded his grasp, and Smith won the touch for an opportunistic try. The roar of approbation from the home crowd turned to a groan following a mistake at the restart. Edinburgh number eight Magnus Bradbury made serious inroads off the back of the scrum, and once inside the Munster 22, the visitors won a penalty.
Ben Healy nudged it into the corner, and from a secondary shove on a tightly constructed maul, hooker Ewan Ashman was propelled over the line. Healy hit an upright with the conversion but were soon on the attack again, playing with width and a sharp tempo.
Fineen Wycherley forced a timely penalty turnover in his 22 but the respite was short-lived as a clever grubber kick by Ben Vellacott pushed the home side deep into their 22. Edinburgh nicked the lineout and a sustained assault culminated in a try for Vellacott, quick to spot two inches of in-goal real estate on which to place the ball.
Munster’s Michael Milne celebrates scoring a try with Brian Gleeson. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho
Healy kicked the conversion to push the visitors out to a 12-5 lead but Edinburgh in the space of about seven minutes conceded four penalties and had two players sent to the sin bin, replacement secondrow Greg Young for a blatant offside close to his line and tighthead prop D’Arcy Rae guilty of being upright in a head-on-head collision with Munster fullback Mike Haley.
The home side did manage to score against the 13 men, loosehead prop Mikey Milne with a typically robust finish from close-range for a try. JJ Hanrahan failed with the conversion, but Edinburgh’s discipline continued to be, well, shocking and they were very fortunate to escape a third yellow card in the final minute of the half for an early tackle on Paddy Patterson.
The visitors escaped to the half-time whistle clutching a slender two-point advantage. Munster’s lineout woes will have been concerning while the shape of their attack was periodically lateral and too reliant on the backdoor option, not helped by a backline reshuffle as Haley didn’t return following a HIA.
Sean O’Brien moved to the wing, Dan Kelly joined Tom Farrell in the centre and Calvin Nash switched to fullback. Edinburgh’s issues started and ended with their discipline. And while they didn’t show an immediate improvement on the resumption, they did grab a third try, brilliantly claimed and finished by Darcy Graham, its origin in a cross-kick.
Healy converted but Edinburgh contrived to lose a third player, Freddy Douglas to a yellow card and Munster profited on the scoreboard, Milne’s second try the culmination of a lovely sweeping counterattack. It was the second loudest cheer of the night, eclipsed by that which greeted Edwin Edogbo’s arrival after nearly two years on the sideline with an Achilles injury.
A fourth yellow card for Edinburgh, this time for Magnus Bradbury, another raft of penalties conceded culminated in a try for the outstanding Fineen Wycherley after a superb break from the equally excellent Tom Farrell. Tony Butler, on for Hanrahan couldn’t improve his side’s cursed luck from the placekicking tee.
The home side could even afford to have a try chalked off at the death. Winning superseded everything else on the night.
Scoring sequence – 1 min: A Smith try, 5-0; 6: Ashman try, 5-5; 15: Vellacott try, Healy conversion, 5-12; 33: Milne try, 10-12. Half-time: 10-12. 47: Graham try, Healy conversion, 10-19; 57: Milne try, 15-19; 72: F Wycherley try, 20-19.
Munster: M Haley; C Nash, T Farrell, S O’Brien, A Smith; JJ Hanrahan, P Patterson; M Milne, D Barron (capt), O Jager; J Kleyn, F Wycherley; J O’Donoghue, R Quinn, G Coombes. Replacements: J Ryan for Jager 23 mins; D Kelly for Haley (HIA) 30 mins; B Gleeson for Quinn 46 mins; L Barron for D Barron 52 mins; E Edogbo for Kleyn 54 mins; E Coughlan for Patterson 59 mins; J Wycherley for Milne 61 mins;, T Butler for Hanrahan 69 mins.
Edinburgh: W Goosen; D Graham, P O’Conor, J Lang, D van der Merwe; B Healy, B Vellacott; P Schoeman, E Ashman, D Rae; M Sykes, S Skinner; L McConnell, D Richardson, M Bradbury (capt). Replacements: G Young for Sykes (HIA) 18-38 mins; P Hill for O’Conor 35-40 mins and Rae 49 mins; B Venter for Schoeman 49 mins; F Douglas for McConnell 49 mins; B Muncaster for Richardson 49 mins; P Harrison for Ashman 66 mins; Young for Muncaster 69 mins; H Paterson for Graham (HIA) 71-74 mins; Graham for Patterson 75 mins. C Shiel for Vellacott 76 mins.
Yellow card: G Young (Edinburgh) 28 mins; D Rae (Edinburgh) 30 mins; F Douglas (Edinburgh) 53 mins; M Bradbury (Edinburgh) 69 mins.
Referee: B Whitehouse (Wales)