Edinburgh end Munster's winning streak

Editor

Munster's winning run of 14 matches came to an end on Friday as they crashed to a 29-14 defeat to Edinburgh at Murrayfield.

Defending champions Munster's winning run of 14 matches came to an end on Friday as they crashed to a 29-14 defeat to Edinburgh at Murrayfield.

The Scottish capital outfit had only won once in four attempts all season whereas Munster went into the clash sitting top of the table.

While the Munster line-up showed 10 changes from the side that defeated Cardiff Blues the week before, and half the squad was aged 24 or under, coach Tony McGahan would have hoped for better from his side who found themselves 16 points down at the end of the first quarter.

Following three Greig Laidlaw penalties, centre Matt Scott celebrated his 21st birthday in style with the game's first try.

Munster finally woke from their slumber and fly-half Ian Keatley landed three penalty kicks at goal to reduce the deficit to seven points at the interval.

Edinburgh, though, came out with renewed energy at the re-start and Laidlaw supplied his fourth penalty before hooker Steven Lawrie crashed over for a try.

Laidlaw added the extras to take the score to 26-9 in the home side's favour.

Defences stayed on top until Danny Barnes pulled five points back with a try for Munster following a well-worked backs move; however Edinburgh skipper Laidlaw appropriately had the final say with a fifth penalty to take his personal contribution for the match to 19 points.

The victory was only Edinburgh's second against Munster in the last 10 meetings between the sides.

The scorers:

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Scott, Lawrie
Cons: Laidlaw 2
Pens: Laidlaw 5

For Munster:
Try: Barnes
Pens: Keatley 3

The teams:

Edinburgh:15 Jim Thompson, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Matt Scott, 12 James King, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Gregor Hunter, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Stuart McInally, 7 Roddy Grant, 6 David Denton, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Lewis Niven, 2 Steven Lawrie, 1 Kyle Traynor.
Replacements: 16 Alun Walker, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Shaun Knight, 19 Esteban Lozada, 20 Hamish Watson, 21 Chris Leck, 22 Phil Godman, 23 Tom Brown.

Munster: 15 Scott Deasy, 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Tom Gleeson, 12 Lifeimi Mafi, 11 Denis Hurley, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Paddy Butler, 7 Niall Ronan, 6 Tommy O'Donnell, 5 Mick O'Driscoll, 4 Dave Foley, 3 John Hayes, 2 Denis Fogarty, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: Replacements: 16 Mike Sherry, 17 John Ryan, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Ian Nagle, 20 Peter O'Mahony, 21 Duncan Williams, 22 Danny Barnes, 23 Simon Zebo.

Referee: Leighton Hodges
Assistant Referees: Cammy Rudkin, Graeme Marshall