Munster 28

Edinburgh 34

John Fallon reports from Virgin Media Park

A PENNY FOR the thoughts of Clayton McMillan back in Waikato if the newly appointed Munster head coach got a glimpse of this astonishing debacle as he prepared for his current side the Chiefs to take on the Brumbies.

An eleventh win in a row at Virgin Media Park seemed a given against an Edinburgh side which hadn’t won away from home since last April, but Munster were blown away by the last team to beat them at the Cork venue back in 2019.

One of the first tasks facing the new coach when he arrives in the summer will surely be to sort out a scrum which coughed up eight penalties in their own backyard and ensured the recent good run of four wins from their last five matches came to a shuddering halt with converted centre Matt Currie scoring a hat-trick on the wing.

Yet McMillan will note that Munster did not give up despite being hammered in the set-piece and out of the ashes of a dreadful display, they conjured two bonus points from the final play of the night.

Edinburgh had the bonus point in the bag by the break, going in leading 29-7 having silenced the 8,800 capacity crowd in Cork with an excellent performance that had its foundation in a dominant scrum.

Three penalties from the set-piece led directly to 17 points as the Scots, humbled at home by Zebre last time out, drove their advantage home.

The tone was set in the sixth minute when Munster were pinged in the first scrum and Ross Thompson landed an excellent penalty from 45 metres.

Munster, who went into this game having astonishly only converted one penalty in the league this season, again turned down the posts after ten minutes, but while Tom Ahern won the lineout, they failed to make progress and the ball was turned over.

Munster did cross for the first try of the match after 15 minutes. A good break from the base of a scrum created the opportunity and a few phases later Alex Nankivell marked his return from a hamstring injury in December by finishing through three defenders under the posts.

Billy Burns tapped over the conversion but notions of Munster pushing on from there never materialised. Instead, a fine break by flanker Ben Muncaster put Thompson through for a converted try after 24 minutes.

Five minutes later a penalty advantage from another scrum saw Edinburgh scrum-half Ben Vellacott chip to the corner and when Shay McCarthy misjudged it, right winger Currie, usually a centre, pounced.

Thompson converted from the right to make it 17-7 and then he delivered a superb pass for Currie to race in and score his second in the right corner five minutes from the break.

Munster were unable to stem the flow and Edinburgh sealed the bonus point on the stroke of half-time off a lineout with hooker Ewan Ashman and Currie combining to send No.8 Magnus Bradbury over, with Thompson’s conversion making it 29-7 at the interval.

Munster lost Calvin Nash to injury before the break. They brought in Stephen Archer for John Ryan at the break and then replaced hooker Niall Scannell with Diarmuid Barron, but Edinburgh won another three scrum penalties in the third quarter, even after they replacement their hooker Ewan Ashman.

Munster got a glimmer of hope after 52 minutes when Josh Wycherley charged down a kick and Alex Kendellen, who had come on at the break for Evan O’Connell with Ahern moving to the second row, took it on the support arrived for Nankivell to break through Thompson’s tackle and score a converted try to cut the gap to 29-14.

But Munster weren’t long gifting Edinburgh another try when they failed to deal with a garryowen from Thompson which bounced kindly into Currie’s path to complete his hat-trick.

Munster finally managed to put the ball through the hands and full-back Ben O’Connor timed his run perfectly to score 15 minutes from the end, with replacement out-half Tony Butler converting to cut the gap to 34-21.

Edinburgh were reduced to 14 men four minutes from time when replacement hooker Paddy Harrison got a yellow card for a high hit on Butler. Munster won the lineout inside the 22 but then got pinged for not releasing as the rampant Edinburgh pack nailed them.

However, Munster salvaged a couple of points when, of all things, they won a penalty from a scrum and developed the phases and kept the ball alive for Nankivell to chip to the right corner and Sean O’Brien scored their fourth try.

Burns, who had come back on after Butler went off for a HIA, kept his nerve to secure an unlikely second bonus point.

Scores

Munster

Tries: A Nankivell (2), B O’Connor, S O’Brien

Cons: B Burns (3 from 3), T Butler

Edinburgh

Tries: M Currie (3), M Bradbury, R Thompson

Cons: Thompson (3 from 5)

Pen: Thompson.

Munster: Ben O’Connor; Calvin Nash (Sean O’Brien 38), Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Shay McCarthy; Billy Burns (Tony Butler 60, Burns 76), Ethan Coughlan (Paddy Patterson 53); Josh Wycherley (Mark Donnelly 56), Niall Scannell (Diarmuid Barron 47), John Ryan (Stephen Archer half-time); Evan O’Connell (Alex Kendellen half-time), Fineen Wycherley; Tom Ahern, John Hodnett, Brian Gleeson (Ruadhan Quinn 60).

Edinburgh: Wes Goosen; Matt Currie (Mark Bennett 66), James Lang, Mosese Tuipulotu, Ross McCann; Ross Thompson, Ben Vellacott (Ali Price 67); Boan Venter (Robin Hislop 67), Ewan Ashman (Paddy Harrison half-time), Paul Hill (D’arcy Rae 66); Marshall Sykes (Glen Young 66), Sam Skinner; Luke Crosbie (Hamish Watson 3), Ben Muncaster (Ashman 78), Magnus Bradbury.

Referee: G Gnecchi (Italy).