Francis Saili settles nerves as Munster’s knock-out blow arrives late
A 77th minute try from Francis Saili tipped the balance in Munster’s favour after the Scottish visitors had kept Anthony Foley’s side scoreless for 44 frustrating minutes, narrowing a 20-13 halftime home lead to single point during a second half at Musgrave Park that had a sell-out 8,200 crowd nervously watching their team struggle to make an impression.
First-half tries from Rory Scannell, Simon Zebo and Andrew Conway had set Munster on their way but it took Saili’s late score to settle it after Jason Tovey’s boot and a 19th minute try had kept Edinburgh in the hunt.
The Scots had started the game in the sixth and final Champions Cup qualification spot, ahead of Munster on points difference with two games of the season remaining. The announcement at the start of the week of a management reshuffle for next season with Rassie Erasmus usurping current boss Foley as the main man hardly boded well for a rousing performance.
Yet someone had read the script and cometh the hour, cometh the crowd. A sell-out 8,200 crowd was declared on the eve of the match and the sea of red that accompanied the traditional pre-match rendition of Stand Up and Fight was matched the by noise that greeted CJ Stander and his team onto the pitch.
Musgrave Park was rocking and Munster responded appropriately, weathering an opening flurry of Edinburgh pressure five minutes in with an excellent turnover on their own 22 by hooker Niall Scannell that moments later was being transformed into five points at the other end by his brother Rory Scannell. There was plenty of meat between the Scannell sandwich, Andrew Conway making a great catch from a Conor Murray box kick on halfway before fly-half punted the ball into space upfield, taking advantage of the absence of incapacitated full-back Blair Kinghorn. Keith Earls did the chasing and pressure the visiting defender into coughing up the ball, from where Munster moved the ball from left to right and inside centre Rory Scanell finished in the corner, Holland converting from the touchline to extend his 100 per cent place-kicking record to 14 successful attempts in a row.
Munster’s fallibilities were still on show and when Francis Saili strayed offside, Jason Tovey got Edinburgh’s scoreboard rolling with a 15th minute penalty before some poor defensive positioning allowed the on-loan fly-half to add a try and conversion to his collectionfour minutes later. Tob=vey exploited an obvious mismatch by bisecting front-rowers Scannell and Stephen Archer before cooly rounding Simon Zebo to score close to the posts, his conversion nudging the Scots in front at 8-7.
A Holland penalty in the 22nd minute levelled the scores and following a missed Tovey penalty, Munster regained the lead with their second try, again forged deep inside their own half. From quick scrum ball on their 22, Saili charged upfield with Conway taking it on and chipping over the top of the Edinburgh line with Zebo winning the race to the bouncing ball to score in the right corner.
With another kick from the right touchline, Holland’s perfect record came to an end with the conversion attempt but Munster were able to stretch their lead to 20-10 on 33 minutes when Conway got the try his play had deserved. Once again, Holland’s sharp thinking and sharper pace had found a gap from inside his own half, Munster eventually reaching the Edinburgh five-metre line and earning a breakdown penalty. Undaunted by the reputation of the visiting scrum, Munster packed down. Though No.8 Stander was harried at the base, forcing scrum-half Murray onto the back foot, Munster recycled and moved it from left to right, good hands from Billy Holland feeding Conway for a third try in that corner. Johnny Holland’s conversion missed but the try had ushered in a rainbow over Musgrave Park as the rain begain to fall and everything in the garden was looking rosy.
That was until Tovey struck again, his 37th minute penalty sending his team in just seven points in arrears at half-time, Munster leading 20-13. Edinburgh narrowed the gap further three minutes after the break with another Tovey penalty and it was the Scottish side that looked to have benefited from the interval. Munster’s first-half momentum was evaporating, not least as Edinburgh’s set-piece began to dominate and the home side found themselves pinned inside their own half. A long period of pressure saw Munster concede a scrum penalty in the 64th minute and replacement scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne slotted from the Munster 10m line to make it a one-point game at 20-19.
Finally the Munster pack was stirred into action, a driving maul from a penalty lineout 25 metres out rumbling towards the line only for referee Ian Davies’s arm to go out and signal an Edinburgh scrum for a knock on, swiftly followed by a scrum penalty to send the home side onto the back foot once more.
The frustration was palpable as Munster even squandered a penalty opportunity just inside the Edinburgh half on 70 minutes, Conor Murray failing to find touch down the left-hand touch.
The next opportunity reverted to |Johnny Holland and the fly-half made no mistake, finding touch as Munster went in search of a try that would ease the tension and seal a bonus point.
First they mauled, only for Earls to be ruled short of the line by the TMO but from the ensuing five-metre scrum Munster madse their presence felt at last, Stader peeling off the back and around the corner, replacement back rower Jack O’Donoghue making another stab before Saili took the ball on the charge and didn’t stop until he was under the posts with three minutes to spare. The try sealed the bonus, Holland’s simple conversion from in front of the posts just as crucially denied Edinburgh their losing bonus point. Both could prove significant a week from now.
S Zebo; A Conway, F Saili, R Scannell, K Earls; J Holland, C Murray; D Kilcoyne (J Cronin, 55), N Scannell (M Sherry, 58), S Archer (J Ryan, 68); D Foley (R Copeland, 63), B Holland; D O’Callaghan (J O’Donoghue, 74), T O’Donnell, CJ Stander – captain.
D Williams, I Keatley, R O’Mahony.
B Kinghorn (D Fife, 6); D Hoyland, M Scott, A Strauss (C Dean, h-t), T Brown; J Tovey, S Kennedy (S Hidalgo-Clyne, 55); A Dickinson (R Sutherland, 58), R Ford – captain (S McInally, h-t), WP Nel (J Andress, 68); A Bresler (A Toolis, 68), B Toolis; J Ritchie (M Bradbury, 52), J Hardie, C Du Preez.
Ian Davies (Wales)
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