Edinburgh were outfought in a tense Murrayfield tussle with Munster, as replacement Ronan O’Gara’s 67th-minute penalty steered the province to their first Magners League win outside of Ireland since last September.
Argentinian lock Esteban Lozada made his competitive debut for Edinburgh, whose coach Rob Moffat made four changes to the team that lost 34-23 to the Cardiff Blues in their league opener.
Mark Robertson, Scott Newlands and Ross Rennie all came in for the first starts of the campaign, with the injured Alan McDonald (hip) and Roddy Grant (knee) notable absentees from the back row.
Munster made one change in personnel to the side that claimed a bonus point 33-17 victory over Aironi Rugby last Saturday. With Billy Holland losing out in a reshuffled pack, Alan Quinlan was restored to the back row.
Tony McGahan’s men dictated play in the opening half, hammering away at Edinburgh’s defensive line armed with a plentiful supply of possession. But two penalties from out-half Paul Warwick was all they had to show for their efforts.
And Edinburgh rallied sufficiently to close the gap to 6-3 on the stroke of half-time, with full-back and captain for the night Chris Paterson converting a penalty.
There were early turnovers on both sides, with Munster enjoying a territorial advantage and proving the more aggressive in the tackle. Darts from centres Sam Tuitupou and Johne Murphy towards the hosts’ 22 came to nothing, however.
When things settled down, a quick counter attack launched by Mick O’Driscoll gave Warwick his first sight of the posts and he made no mistake for a 14th minute lead.
A wayward restart from Phil Godman and scrum infringement by Allan Jacobsen then set up Warwick’s second penalty opportunity, but his effort from the halfway line tailed away to the right.
Edinburgh continued to soak up pressure in their half, and Munster were left kicking themselves when a cleverly angled run from Damien Varley and powerful burst up the left from Ian Dowling amounted to little.
Credit to the Scottish side’s defence, they maintained their discipline and kept making the tackles. Fijian number 8 Netani Talei carried well also carried well when the roles were reversed.
Edinburgh winger Mark Robertson was on his toes to defend a well-placed kick from Tuitupou, jinking onto his right to clear the danger with a solid hit downfield.
A lengthy injury stoppage for Lozada, who was left prone after putting in a tackle on Tuitupou, gave both sides a breather. Munster were able to maintain their rhythm and when Alex Grove was pinged for not rolling away, Warwick doubled the visitors’ advantage.
The one-way traffic was broken up as half-time loomed. A charge from prop Geoff Cross increased the decibel level. Edinburgh enjoyed a spell in and around the Munster 22, but a series of errors spoilt their good work.
Fraser McKenzie, who replaced Lozada, was penalised for not releasing at ruck time, then Grove knocked on as the ball was swept from right to left and a poor kick towards the right corner from Godman let Munster off the hook.
Still, Edinburgh did get some reward for their endeavour as Paterson knocked a penalty over off the right hand post with the last kick of the half, punishing Wian du Preez for a tackle offence.
The second half was only five minutes’ old when Edinburgh grabbed a superb try, scored by flying winger Tim Visser.
Godman hung up an inviting crossfield kick, over halfway, Visser beat Doug Howlett to the dropping ball and skipped inside Jones’ attempted tackle to race over from 40 metres out.
After the Dutchman celebrated his third try in two games, Paterson added the conversion for a 10-6 scoreline.
Edinburgh drew confidence from that score and kept Munster at bay as they tried to mount a response. The visitors unloaded their experienced bench, and two of their replacements, Ronan O’Gara and Donncha O’Callaghan, went on to have a big say in the result.
Coming up to the hour mark, Munster launched a swift attack off a scrum in the Scots’ 22.
Replacement scrum half Tomas O’Leary passed for Dowling to thunder through on a diagonal run, but a tremendous tackle from Talei held him up short. There was nothing Edinburgh’s scrambling defence could do off the next ruck as O’Callaghan pounced for a well-taken try. O’Gara’s successful conversion made it 13-10.
In an edgy final quarter, Paterson managed to square things up with a penalty from long range, awarded for a ruck infringement by hooker Varley.
Neither side looked like breaking through for another try, although Howlett threatened from deep. Edinburgh were struggling for territory and when they infringed at a maul, O’Gara stepped up to land the penalty from the right and restore Munster’s lead.
It proved to be the match-winning score, as Munster’s hard-working forwards dominated the closing stages and Edinburgh, try as they might, could not break out of their half in a final attack.
Speaking after the game, Munster boss McGahan said: “What pleased me most was to come here and win in what is a very difficult environment.
“We coughed up ten points in the space of a few minutes at the end of the first and then the start of the second half, so to recover from that says a lot of the mentality of this squad.”
Munster’s stand-in captain Denis Leamy added: “We dominated the first half and deserved to be further ahead. We didn’t turn our possession into points though, and then Edinburgh came out and scored from the crossfield kick.
“But we rolled up our sleeves and got back into the game and when they (the returning internationals) came on, they helped to revive us a bit in the last quarter.
“The Edinburgh defence was very good and we never really threatened their line, but when we went behind we stepped up again and worked very hard, got back up the pitch and into their faces and got the win.”
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