Gregor Townsend believes it was not the “true” Scotland that were well beaten by Wales in their Six Nations opener.

Tonga rugby players must be ardently hoping that they never again encounter the conditions prevailing at Thomond Park last night.

LEINSTER 21 - EDINBURGH 13: A late shot of whiskey helped Leinster to a narrow win over Edinburgh with Jamison Gibson-Park’s try coming as last orders were being called at the RDS last night.

Munster 28 Edinburgh 14: “The performance was really, really average”. 

Edinburgh 23 Connacht 28: Connacht survived a huge examination from Edinburgh in Murrayfield last evening to stay top of the Guinness Pro 12 with their fifth win on the trot.

Edinburgh made it two wins out of two in Challenge Cup Pool Five with a 27-6 stroll against Agen.

South Africa 64 USA 0: Heyneke Meyer paid tribute to Bryan Habana after the wing equalled the Rugby World Cup try-scoring record as his South Africa side confirmed their quarter-final spot with a comprehensive 10-try victory over USA.

South Africa 34 Scotland 16: Stand-off Duncan Weir hopes his stunning second-half burst against South Africa on Saturday will help seal his place in coach Vern Cotter’s plans as Scotland look to book their place in the World Cup quarter-finals.

In the lead-up to facing Ireland anyone wearing a Springbok tracksuit proclaimed that the Autumn tour to Ireland, Britain and Italy was the beginning of their World Cup preparation and not an isolated sequence of games.

GUINNESS PRO12:

Edinburgh 13 Connacht 14

South Africa 38 Wales 16

RABO DIRECT PRO 12:

Connacht claimed a precious 11-7 home win over Edinburgh as they lifted themselves off the bottom of the RaboDirect PRO12 table.

Munster 38 Edinburgh 6

Munster motored their way to a home Heineken Cup quarter-final as they brushed Edinburgh aside 38-6 at Thomond Park.

RABODIRECT PRO12:

RABODIRECT PRO12

Edinburgh 43 Connacht 10

Ulster 41 Edinburgh 17

Perpignan 31 Edinburgh 14

Perpignan 31 Edinburgh 14

Munster have tied down the services of forwards coach Anthony Foley for another season, ending speculation the 2006 Heineken Cup-winning captain was set to join Joe Schmidt’s Ireland management team on a full-time basis.

Saracens were last night facing a backlash from their own supporters for the club’s decision to drown out Munster’s travelling army of support with loud music during Sunday’s Heineken Cup encounter at Vicarage Road.

Munster’s prospects of victory in Saturday’s Heineken Cup opener against Racing Metro in Paris took a nosedive yesterday when Keith Earls and Wian du Preez were ruled out of the tie.

On a night when injuries and handling errors threatened to overshadow a promising display, Munster appear to have found another youngster with the potential to make a long-term impact.

It wasn’t perfect, but Munster’s overall display at Musgrave Park on Saturday was a whole lot better than the previous two weeks and good enough to reward them with four RaboDirect Pro12 points to keep them on course for a semi-final spot.

Unsurprisingly, four of six changes to the Munster starting XV to face Leinster in Saturday night's RaboDirect PRO12 encounter in Thomond Park (KO: 7.30pm) are caused by the return of internationals who had been missing from the squad on Six Nations duty.

Much of the talk leading into this tie surrounded the immediate future of Tomás O’Leary, after French TV claimed the Ireland international had inked a deal with Perpignan.

MUNSTER coach Tony McGahan believes his player have performed heroically in securing a Heineken Cup quarter-final spot with a round of the pool stages remaining.

Munster 26 Castres 10

MUNSTER coach Tony McGahan will today dig deeper into his pool of young talent to find a Heineken Cup squad replacement for Denis Leamy, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a hip injury.

FRUSTRATING, sloppy, tight and an uncomfortable finish — and those are the words of the winning captain.

RONAN O’GARA does not get that many opportunities these days to display his skills at Musgrave Park, but he treated the crowd of almost 7,000 last night to a superb display of kicking in appalling conditions.

THE PORTENTS weren’t good when over 6,000 ticket-holders failed to turn up for Munster’s RaboDirect Pro12 clash with arch-rivals Ospreys at Thomond Park on Saturday night.