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Munster fightback floors Edinburgh

rugby02 December 2022 21:32| © MWP
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Munster Rugby © Getty Images

Munster continued their recent resurgence as they claimed an impressive 38-17 bonus-point win over Edinburgh on Friday night.

Coming into this clash, Munster found themselves in 10th place on the United Rugby Championship log, but they are increasingly moving in the right direction.

Last Saturday, Munster beat Connacht 24-17 at Thomond Park, but had not won successive fixtures in the United Rugby Championship since April.

Furthermore, the Irish side had lost their last six away games in the Championship, equalling their poorest-ever run since 2006.

However, Munster impressively set those records aside as they delivered a dominant second-half performance that was in complete contrast to their unconvincing start to the match.

The opening quarter of this clash had in fact largely belonged to Edinburgh, and the hosts took control on the scoreboard as tries to Chris Dean and Darcy Graham opened up a handy 12-0 buffer.

Munster did hit back via a try to Craig Casey as they began to work their way into the encounter, but when Edinburgh’s Jamie Ritchie wrestled over the tryline five minutes before halftime, the Scots would have still felt pretty comfortable with their game position.

However, on either side of halftime, the complexion of this game changed dramatically as Munster centre Rory Scannell hit a short line to barge over for a crucial try just before the break.

Soon after the restart, Munster continued to build on that momentum as they increasingly looked threatening with ball in hand, while wing Calvin Nash ran a beautiful line to score under the posts and hand his side the lead for the first time in the game.

The visitors continued to play with pace and precision, which ramped up the pressure on an Edinburgh side that suddenly looked a bit shell-shocked.

Quite deservedly, Munster then powered further ahead when No 8 Gavin Coombes superbly finished off the team’s bonus-point try, with the Irish outfit duly establishing a handy 28-17 lead before the hour mark.

From there, Joey Carbery knocked over an important penalty to create further breathing room, while errors continued to creep into Edinburgh's play as they desperately chased the game.

With the final play of the game, Carbery scored one final try for Munster as they celebrated what was arguably their most impressive performance of the season.

Points scorers

Edinburgh - Tries: Chris Dean, Darcy Graham, Jamie Ritchie. Conversion: Blair Kinghorn.

Munster - Tries: Craig Casey, Rory Scannell, Calvin Nash, Gavin Coombes, Joey Carbery. Conversions: Carbery (5). Penalty: Carbery

Teams

Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Chris Dean, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Blair Kinghorn, 9 Ben Vellacott, 8 Villame Mata, 7 Luke Crosbie, 6 Jamie Ritchie (cc), 5 Grant Gilchrist (cc), 4 Jamie Hodgson, 3 Luan de Bruin, 2 Patrick Harrison, 1 Pierre Schoeman.


Replacements:16 Tom Cruse, 17 Boan Venter, 18 WP Nel, 19 Marshall Sykes, 20 Nick Haining, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 James Lang.

Munster: 15 Shane Daly, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Antoine Frisch, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 John Hodnett, 6 Peter O’Mahony (captain), 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 John Ryan, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Jeremy Loughman.


Replacements: 16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 Josh Wycherley, 18 Roman Salanoa, 19 Jack O’Donoghue, 20 Alex Kendellen, 21 Paddy Patterson, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Patrick Campbell.

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