Munster made it back-to-back bonus point wins in the GUINNESS PRO12 as a 34-3 trouncing of Edinburgh moved them into second place in the table. The game also saw Simon Zebo become the province’s leading try scorer in league history.
A sprightly start from Edinburgh saw them go through the phases, making good yardage at BT Murrayfield. They eventually forced Munster to cough up the game’s opening penalty with the home pack camped on the try-line. The resulting place-kick was nailed by Tom Heathcote in the third minute.
Munster, for their part, were impressive in their first venture into Edinburgh territory, displaying serious physicality as they gobbled up the territory. However, a knock-on in contact just inches from the whitewash allowed the Scottish side to clear their lines.
A lack of precision cost Anthony Foley’s charges in the opening 20 minutes as they struggled to hit their stride, failing to secure possession from their first attacking lineout and later infringing in their own maul.
Offside from Edinburgh eventually allowed Ian Keatley to get Munster off the mark at the end of the first quarter. Slowly but surely, the visitors began to click and constantly threaten the Edinburgh defence.
Full-back Felix Jones did well to charge down and claim an attempted clearance, but the subsequent kick through from Keatley was just too far ahead of the onrushing Simon Zebo with the ball beating him over the end-line.
As Munster received threats of yellow cards for repeated infringements at scrum time, so too did the hosts, theirs for persistently pulling down the dominant Munster maul.
One such warning from referee Ian Davies presented Munster with a kickable penalty in the 32nd minute. However, recognising their superiority in the maul, the men in red went down the line – a decision that paid dividends with hooker Duncan Casey crossing for his fourth try of the season.
Keatley’s successful conversion gave Munster a 10-3 cushion that they took with them into the break. The set piece that had been somewhat stop-start for the province in the opening 40 minutes become a well-oiled machine as Edinburgh were put to the sword in the second half.
Again sensing their ascendancy in the maul and knowing the importance of every available league point, Peter O’Mahony and company repeatedly kicked to touch and drove for the line, the net result of which was CJ Stander’s sixth try of the league campaign on 52 minutes.
Neat interplay and pace from Keith Earls and returning speedy prop James Cronin brought Munster straight back into the Edinburgh 22 from the restart. With Tim Visser yellow carded for holding on to Cronin in the tackle, unsurprisingly Foley’s men kept faith with their fruitful maul and kicked down the line from the resultant penalty.
Despite a knock-on the first time of asking, advantage allowed Munster to go again and this time it was man-of-the-match Conor Murray who pounced from the back of another driving maul for the visitors’ third try. Keatley added the extras to open up a 19-point advantage.
Just over five minutes later, the bonus point was secured when winger Zebo crossed to become Munster’s leading try scorer in the history of the PRO12 with 23 tries, eclipsing Doug Howlett’s haul of 22.
A neat kick ahead from Jones saw the Corkman set off in hot pursuit and this time he managed to gett a fingertip to the ball as he dived at full stretch. After a lengthy deliberation with TMO Iain Ramage, referee Davies adjudged Zebo to have applied downward pressure on the ball and awarded the try.
With a five-point return now in the bag, the icing on the cake came from right winger Earls (pictured above) who succeeded in scoring for the fourth match running. In similar fashion to the recent derby clash with Connacht, Denis Hurley again kicked through for Earls to finish off try number five for the province.
Keatley’s conversion made it 34-3 with 15 minutes to play and despite a late rally from the home side, Munster’s defence held firm, protecting a comprehensive lead that, in the end, saw them leapfrog over Ulster into second spot on points scoring difference.
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