A CLINICAL SECOND half of running rugby saw Munster move a step closer to a home semi-final after a 34-3 bonus point with over Edinburgh at Murrayfield.
After a half an hour you wouldn’t have guessed the final scoreline as the game was tied at 3-3 and both sides were struggling to execute in attack.
But a Duncan Casey try on the back of a powerful Munster maul gave the visitors a 10-3 lead at the break and that seemed to kick-start their charge as they came out in the second half in a far more efficient manner.
Edinburgh opened the scoring after Munster were penalised for a no arms tackle and Tom Heatcote slotted the straightforward penalty. Munster had a few chances to put the home side under pressure but a few sloppy errors in the opposition 22 prevented them from capitalising.
One overthrown lineout and another bit of indiscipline which saw Munster penalised while their maul was rumbling towards the line were two such instances.
However, midway through the half an Edinburgh forward was penalised for offside and Keatley levelled from the tee.
Encouragingly for Munster, when they put width on the ball early on, they troubled Edinburgh. Tommy O’Donnell and Peter O’Mahony were typically busy in the loose and led the Munster charge admirably before Casey’s five-pointer.
Munster cut down on their error count significantly after the break and were far more careful in possession thereafter, especially when in attack. CJ Stander and Conor Murray both crossed from close-range before the TMO awarded Simon Zebo a very questionable score.
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The wing didn’t seem to get the required pressure on the ball after chasing a grubber kick but the official thought otherwise. Keith Earls put a further shine on the scoreline when he picked up an Edinburgh fumble yards from the line and dived over for an easy score to extend Munster’s lead to 31 points.
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