Simon Zebo signed off in his final Thomond Park game for Munster with a classy try assist in their tense 20-16 GUINNESS PRO14 semi-final qualifier win over Edinburgh.
Munster were far from their best but got the job done thanks to JJ Hanrahan’s 72nd-minute penalty, which sets up a mouth-watering semi-final against provincial rivals Leinster at the RDS on Saturday, May 19 (kick-off 3.15pm).
Rhys Marshall’s opportunist eighth-minute score was the only try of a fitful first half, with Edinburgh playing the better rugby and two Sam Hidalgo-Clyne penalties leaving them just 7-6 behind at the break.
The Racing 92-bound Simon Zebo provided the individual brilliance to play in man-of-the-match Keith Earls for a much-needed 42nd-minute try. Hanrahan’s boot extended the lead to 17-6, before Hidalgo-Clyne’s third penalty and Nathan Fowles’ cracking 58th-minute try had the gap down to one again.
Hanrahan’s well-struck long-range penalty gave Munster a four-point cushion but Edinburgh pressurised them right to the final play, Johann van Graan’s men needing a lineout steal by captain Peter O’Mahony to eventually end the Scots’ hopes.
Richard Cockerill’s side arrived in sunny Limerick buoyed by a record 15 league victories, qualification for the Champions Cup, and last week’s recapturing of the 1872 Cup against Glasgow Warriors. Jamie Ritchie’s late withdrawal due to injury brought Lewis Carmichael into their back row.
Edinburgh fell behind when skipper Stuart McInally’s overthrown lineout in his 22 allowed his opposite number Marshall to neatly step inside Hidalgo-Clyne and power over for the opening try, converted with aplomb by Hanrahan.
Duhan van der Merwe and Bill Mata’s powerful running began to cause problems for Munster, and Mark Bennett threatened a try before Simon Berghan knocked on close to the posts.
James Cronin coughed up a cheap penalty which Hidalgo-Clyne turned into three points, and the Munster prop infringed again as the Edinburgh scrum half reduced the margin to the minimum in the 24th minute.
Ciaran Parker, who was a permanent replacement for shoulder injury victim Stephen Archer at tighthead, won a scrum penalty for Munster which Hanrahan pushed wide of the target, with the hosts’ overuse of the boot in general play allowing the Scots to have the lion’s share of possession (61%).
More loose kicking and missed tackles (11 by half-time) from Munster, who also lost Andrew Conway to a head injury, invited their opponents forward, excellent full-back Blair Kinghorn countering from deep but an important tackle by Earls and a turnover from Cronin halted Edinburgh’s progress.
It was Earls who benefited from some timely magic from Zebo who collected his own chip in midfield and sprayed a sublime pass off his right for the onrushing winger to gather and run in his try in the left corner. Hanrahan’s conversion and subsequent penalty suddenly made it 17-6.
But Cockerill’s charges were back within a point by the hour mark, Hidalgo-Clyne landing his third successful penalty and a poor kick from full-back Zebo eventually leading to Fowles touching down, following some terrific running by both Mata and Kinghorn.
The successful conversion from Jaco van der Walt teed up a gripping and defence-dominated final quarter, Edinburgh holding onto the momentum but unable to force another opening.
The Scots thought they had the edge in the scrum, yet they lost ground through set piece offences and knock-ons, and a lineout infringement allowed Hanrahan to coolly land the match-winning kick from Edinburgh’s 10-metre line.
Speaking about the departing Zebo and giving his reaction to the team performance afterwards, Munster head coach van Graan said: “Very much so (we will miss Zeebs). I said to the team inside, since I came, the thing we will miss most is his smile and his attitude.
“He is his own man and such a fantastic Munster man. He was part of a back-three that played really well today, I thought the back-three as a unit really did well, but there was one or two moments from Zeebs. Firstly, to see that chip and that pass was pretty special. We’re going to miss him as a Munster man.
“I thought today was an arm wrestle. In the previous play-off game (against Racing), we didn’t really have the chance in the first 15 minutes to play with more ambition because we didn’t have the ball.
“I thought we did some good things out there today, possibly one or two things we could execute better but certainly in a semi-final away from home coming up against Leinster, we might have to look at one or two things differently.
“One or two individualistic moments swung it in our way. I was very glad about the two tries which obviously gave us a bit of a lead and I’m very happy with the fact that once we got the lead we stayed in front for the whole game.”
The South African added: “I think some of our kick execution needs to be better. Obviously, we hope to have one or two guys back into the squad and I think a few teams are searching for that answer as to what do to beat Leinster at this stage.
“They’re playing incredible rugby, going into the Champions Cup final, so we’ll have to do our planning very carefully because we’re going to go to Dublin and face a very, very talented and very good and very professional outfit. If we’re to stand a chance of beating them, we’ll need to be at our very, very best.”
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