A hat-trick of tries from Edinburgh wing Tim Visser was not enough to prevent Munster from claiming a 23-18 PRO12 win at Murrayfield on Saturday.
All the points in the first half were earned by two men. While the hosts' winger went over for two tries, visiting fly-half Ian Keatley scored a try, a conversion and a penalty.
Keatley added two more three-pointers in the second period and Luke O'Dea scored the decisive touchdown.
Although Visser crossed the whitewash for a third time, the Irish team held on despite a late barrage from the home side.
Much like their fellow province Leinster, the Limerick-based outfit went into the opening weekend without their internationals that featured against New Zealand in the summer.
However, they still managed to field a strong side with the likes of Casey Laulala, Doug Howlett and James Downey forming an impressive backline.
Their opponents were looking to improve on last season's 11th place. Despite reaching the Heineken Cup semi-finals, the Scottish outfit struggled in the Pro12.
And they got off to an excellent start against last season's semi-finalists when Visser touched down.
Keatley responded for the visitors with a penalty before Edinburgh's left wing went over for a second try.
Once again, the Irish side hit back through their fly-half who touched down. He then converted his own try as the teams went in level at 10-10 at half-time.
Greig Laidlaw and Keatley traded three-pointers early in the second period before Luke O'Dea cut an excellent line to scamper clear of the hosts' defence.
he visiting fly-hald then sealed the victory with a penalty despite Visser completing his hat-trick seven minutes from the end.
The scorers:
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Visser 3
Pen: Laidlaw
For Munster:
Tries: Keatley, O'Dea
Cons: Keatley 2
Pens: Keatley 3
Edinburgh: 15 Greig Tonks, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Ben Atiga, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Greig Laidlaw (c), 9 Richie Rees, 8 Stuart McInally, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 David Denton, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Ross Ford, 1 John Yapp.
Replacements: 16 Andy Titterrell, 17 Allan Jacobsen, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Perry Parker, 20 Dimitri Basilaia, 21 Chris Leck, 22 Gregor Hunter, 23 John Houston.
Munster: 15 Denis Hurley, 14 Doug Howlett (capt), 13 Casey Laulala, 12 James Downey, 11 Luke O'Dea, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Duncan Williams, 8 James Coughlan, 7 Sean Dougall, 6 Peter Butler, 5 Billy Holland, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Damien Varley, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Mike Sherry, 17 Marcus Horan, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Dave Foley, 20 Barry O'Mahony, 21 Peter Stringer, 22 Scott Deasy, 23 Ivan Dineen.
Venue: Murrayfield
Referee: Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Andy Macpherson (Scotland), Bob Nevins (Scotland)
Television match official: Iain Ramage (Scotland)
Comments
melkdave says...
@OKRAM79
You seem to be under the impression im anti irish ,you couldnt be further from the truth ,im pro rugby not anti any nation.I am anti this daft IRFU policy though,as it robs supporters of seeing their star players in the bread and butter league games. thus attandances are falling and clubs are getting less revenue Also as i posted elsewhere ,it doesnt seem to be working on a national leval,Ireland since its introduction ,have been pretty dire,and only really playing to their potential once every 8-9 nine games.Why is this because it just doesnt cater to the individual players needs,some will need rest and conditioning while others will need gametime ,every player will have a different need ,they wont have the same need for rest ect all at the sametime .If POC wasnt injured atm but fit to play do you think he would need rest after just comming back from injury or gametime,is the best example i can think of atm.Obvisously he would need gametime to get matchfit and sharp,but the IRFU wont allow him to play .Even the clubs are not very happy about it ,but thats a slightly different arguement .So please think before you post saying anyone is anti anything ,as you maybe totally wrong..
Posted 01:52 04th September 2012
QKRAM79 says...
Haha melkdave your anti irish comments are hilarious. Munster second string still won away from home and played better rugby. They actually played pretty well to boot. Sorry you're so bitter. Why can't they rotate the squad? It worked for Graham Henry and other teams do it. You have to manage your players. For all your jealousy and giving out who is the most successful country in the Celtic league?
Posted 20:35 02nd September 2012
Dougie says...
Wow, you seem very bitter melkdave. Are you by any chance French or English? Hopefully this will be a sign of how well Munster will do this season. I would still be happy with a season of transition though, as long as there are signs of progress. Still, it's a very good sign to beat Edinburgh's first team without our internationals.
Posted 19:18 02nd September 2012
Lucasrg says...
What a great player this Visser!
Munster really made a statement in this game. They are there for the title and even without many "starting line up" players this team seems very solid. Commiserations to Edinburgh as they couldn't keep up the pressure and lost the game.
Posted 18:46 02nd September 2012
Centre12 says...
Is there any stopping Visser???? Lions Tourist anyone??????
Posted 13:40 02nd September 2012
Njcal says...
Good start for Penney. It seems the new center combination is off to a good start too.
Posted 02:56 02nd September 2012
melkdave says...
What a shame Munster won ,i hopeing they would be hammered like Lienster,Missed conversions from Laidlaw 3,,and a lucky bounce helped Munster to victory.As they where really 2nd best for most of the match,Edinburgh will be kicking themselves for letting them wriggle off the hook and scrap a lucky imo victory.And yes i watched the game on the net ,and boy arnt the experts on RTE biased,always singing Munsters praises for doing nothing at all.Reminded me of australian commentators ect But T.Visser wow what a player his turning iinto made the Munster defence look very ordinary and sloppy lol,but never got any praise from the so called RTE experts .MOTM by a country mile
Posted 01:50 02nd September 2012