Edinburgh pulled off a shock 14-13 win – only their second in their last 24 visits to Ireland – as Anthony Foley’s Munster fluffed their lines at Thomond Park tonight.
Alan Solomons’ men gained a measure of revenge for last season’s 55-12 hammering by the Reds, beginning the new GUINNESS PRO12 campaign with a well-earned four points.
New out-half Tom Heathcote coolly slotted three penalties to give Edinburgh a deserved 9-5 half-time lead, with CJ Stander touching down for the hosts while Tomas Leonardi was in the sin-bin.
Edinburgh were briefly down to 13 men when Leonardi’s fellow flanker Hamish Watson was singled out for a ruck offence, but Jack Cuthbert touched down in the 48th minute to leave Anthony Foley’s misfiring side nine points adrift.
Stander’s second try and an Ian Keatley penalty set up a tense conclusion but Keatley, who had an off-night with the boot, narrowly missed a last-gasp long range kick to win it.
One of Edinburgh’s summer signings, John Andress, made an immediate impact in the first scrum, driving John Ryan backwards to set up a fourth minute penalty which Heathcote converted.
Heathcote, who started in place of late withdrawal Greig Tonks, rifled over his second successful penalty after BJ Botha was caught offside.
A marginal forward pass from Heathcote denied Dougie Fife the opportunity to raid up the right wing – in plenty of space – but error-strewn Munster were really struggling to settle.
They finally reached the Scots’ 22 at the tail-end of the first quarter, with Shane Buckley (pictured below) standing out during a busy set of phases, however Edinburgh robustly defended a close-in maul and cleared the danger.
Simon Zebo was unable to latch onto his own kick through midfield and Heathcote suffered his first miss from a difficult penalty attempt on the right wing.
Edinburgh’s aggressive pack – led by man-of-the-match Cornell du Preez – held the edge until Leonardi saw yellow for a 32nd minute tip tackle on Zebo. Munster mauled up close from a lineout and the recycled ball saw Stander crash over past both centres for a well-taken try.
Keatley missed the conversion though and Edinburgh finished the first half strongly, busy centre Sam Beard’s forward pass ruling out a try for Tim Visser before Heathcote split the posts with the final kick.
That good work was undone when Watson was binned for killing Munster ball after an incisive break by Zebo on the resumption.
Nonetheless, 14-man Edinburgh soon broke downfield for a smashing try, Cuthbert’s timely injection of pace helping him gobble up Beard’s grubber kick to score in the right corner.
Stander – the focal point of the Munster pack – answered back on the hour mark, rolling his way over the try-line having shrugged off Heathcote’s initial tackle. Keatley missed the conversion but was on target with a 69th minute penalty for 14-13.
In the dying minutes, Edinburgh almost closed out the victory when Watson spearheaded a threatening break – number 8 Buckley and Johne Murphy (pictured above) came to the province’s rescue – and Heathcote sent a testing place-kick wide.
The Scots finished the game with 14 players after replacement WP Nel was carded, but Keatley – going for goal from the resulting penalty – could not save Munster from their third successive Thomond Park defeat which is a first in the professional era.
This website uses cookies.
Read More