How small details and tireless toil sealed semi for Munster

Edinburgh You could feel the frustration in Richard Cockerill’s voice as the Edinburgh head coach delivered his post-match verdict at Murrayfield on Saturday. The phrase “tiny, tiny margins” recurred throughout his answers to the media and no one could argue that was all that separated these two sides after an absorbing 83 minutes of knockout rugby.

You could feel the frustration in Richard Cockerill’s voice as the Edinburgh head coach delivered his post-match verdict at Murrayfield on Saturday.

The phrase “tiny, tiny margins” recurred throughout his answers to the media and no one could argue that was all that separated these two sides after an absorbing 83 minutes of knockout rugby.

Yet Munster were in no way lucky to have booked their passage to a Heineken Champions Cup semi-final against Saracens in Coventry next month, the precise date and time on the weekend of April 19-21 for this repeat of their 2008 meeting at the same stage and in the same Ricoh Arena to be finalised today.

Yes, Edinburgh will feel they let victory on home turf slip, having dominated possession and territory for long periods of the game but that does not give enough credit to Munster for the way they held Cockerill’s side at bay for those stretches and were clinical in taking the only two chances they were given.

Champagne rugby this was not as a converted try in each half from man of the match Keith Earls and a brilliant defensive effort, most impressive during an early spell playing without the sin-binned Tadhg Beirne, kept their PRO14 rivals at bay and helped Munster book a place in the last four for a competition record 14th time and third year in a row.

While as much as the home side were in control of this absorbing contest, their inability to make it count, save for a Chris Dean try on 26 minutes, and a penalty in either half from Jaco van der Walt, was a telling difference.

Munster have had their fair share of days like that but not on Saturday and rarely have they had to swallow the crushing consequences of an individual error the way Edinburgh are in the wake of a penalty reversal that ultimately cost them the game.

One moment of madness. That’s all it took to turn the tide and give Munster the opening to grab their place in the last four. Pierre Schoeman’s unnecessary shoulder off the ball on Tadhg Beirne saw Pascal Gauzere reverse his initial penalty for a questionable late tackle by Rhys Marshall on Jaco van der Walt and set in chain the process by which Earls scored the decisive try with 10 minutes to go.

Earls had acted with amazing speed and clarity of thought to open the scoring on 18 minutes, his quick tap penalty at the back of an attacking scrum, as Edinburgh were still remonstrating with Pascal Gauzere, was brilliantly executed. as was the 70th-minute finish in the corner that tipped the balance, the Ireland wing profiting from an excellent Conor Murray offload out of Bill Mata tackle and good hands from Rory Scannell and Chris Farrell to get the ball out wide to the right touchline.

And it had all stemmed from Schoeman’s error of judgement, spotted by the television match official, Eric Gauzins, that led to Tyler Bleyendaal’s penalty upfield and the replacement fly-half’s mopping up of the subsequent, overthrown lineout.

A special mention, too, for Bleyendaal’s touchline conversion. He had replaced Joey Carbery at fly-half on 35 minutes as the starting 10 succumbed to more hamstring issues and nervelessly adding the two points that put Munster 17-13 up and took a penalty or drop goal out of Edinburgh’s list of options in their desperate push for victory over the final 10 minutes.

That came up short also, Munster defending heroically once more as the game ran three minutes past the 80 before Edinburgh’s Jamie Ritchie spilled the ball after a tackle by fellow replacement back-rower Arno Botha.

No wonder Johann van Graan closed his eyes and raised his arms skyward as full-time was called.

The hunt for a first trophy since 2011 stays alive and all because Munster had found a way to get over the line and if the overall performance will have to improve to beat Saracens in three weeks, there will be no need to worry about character and resilience.

“We’re far from winning a trophy and achieving our goals,” van Graan said. “We’ve only won a quarter-final… after last year’s two semi-final performances we had a real good look at our game, at our training, and you’ve got to train these things and put players in these positions.

“If you just think about today, losing Mike Haley (to sickness before kick-off), yellow card to your No.5 lock that called the lineout, then you lose your openside (Jack O’Donoghue to a failed HIA) that has just come back and then you lose your starting 10.

Mentally that is massive to come through, and I’m really happy that our guys did. That points to very good planning, very good research, but it’s up to the players to solve issues on the field. I thought we solved a lot of issues and once we got in front we were difficult to beat.

As for Saracens, the preparation starts now alongside the other objective of securing a home play-off semi-final in the final three games of the PRO14 season by reeling in a three-point conference lead held by Glasgow Warriors, the side put to the sword by the English giants in north London in the second quarter-final on Saturday.

That game was getting under way as Van Graan spoke but he knew his side will have to raise their performance levels considerably to get that particular job done.

“We’ll have to be a lot better. There were a lot of moments that we could have executed better, especially in the first half. I haven’t thought about it as of yet but to win a semi-final ... you’ll have to be at your best.

“Munster’s last meeting with Saracens was at the Aviva two seasons ago. Whoever we get, are a quality team and we have to be better.”

EDINBURGH:

D Graham; D Hoyland, J Johnstone (M Bennett, 72), C Dean, D Van Der Merwe; J van der Walt, H Pyrgos (C Shiel, 76); P Schoeman (R Ford, 76), S McInally - captain (A Dell, 76) , WP Nel (S Berghan, 57); B Toolis, G Gilchrist; J Barclay (M Bradbury, 57), H Watson (J Ritchie, 71), V Mata.

MUNSTER:

A Conway; D Sweetnam, C Farrell, R Scannell (D Goggin, 76), K Earls; J Carbery (T Bleyendaal, 35), C Murray; D Kilcoyne (J Loughman, 61), N Scannell (R Marshall, 65), J Ryan (S Archer, 57); J Kleyn (B Holland, 4-14 HIA; 59), T Beirne; P O’Mahony - captain, J O’Donoghue (A Botha, 28), CJ Stander.

Yellow card:

Beirne 11-21 mins Replacement not used: A Mathewson Referee: Pascal Gauzère (France)