Munster end Edinburgh's run

Edinburgh: Three-game winning streak comes to an end

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• Edinburgh
• Munster

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• Connacht suffer seventh loss on the trot
• Leinster topple Treviso

Munster ended Edinburgh's three-match winning run on Saturday night with a 34-17 RaboDirect PRO12 victory at Thomond Park.

An explosive start saw Munster score a try very early on at Thomand Park, as a youthful side beat a resilient Edinburgh team, despite a number of first team regulars missing.

The Scottish side made twelve changes of their own on the back of their brilliant 48-47 win against Racing Metro in last week's Heineken Cup, but those drafted in couldn't curtail the Munster threat.

The Irish side's victory keeps them in touch with the teams above them in the RaboDirect Pro12 table, as they look to defend their league title.

Munster got off to the perfect start, as full-back Denis Hurley's brilliant run set up Danny Barnes to dive over after just three minutes. Ian Keatley added the conversion, 7-0 already with the fans barely in their seats.

Edinburgh didn't let that affect them though, and when Jack Gilding intercepted a stray Munster pass, he put in Phil Godman in for a try, game back on. Godman failed to add the extras, but the Scottish side were back in the contest.

That was to be their last score of the half however, as Munster totally dominated the remainder of the first half.

They came agonisingly close on several occasions to adding a second try before the break, but had to settle for two penalties from Ian Keatley to leave it 13-5 at the interval.

Edinburgh responded early in the second half, with Tom Brown stretching for a try, only for Godman to yet again miss the subsequent conversion, but again the Scots were back in the game.

However the Munster pack dominated from there, and a series of collapsed scrums saw Edinburgh lose two men to the sin bin, which the Irish side capitalised on, as they were awarded a penalty try, converted by Keatley.

The Scots battled hard to get back in the contest, but Munster killed off the game with fifteen minutes remaining, when Simon Zebo went over after Keatley and Will Chambers combined well.

Edinburgh did have one positive moment before the final whistle though, when substitute Robin Hislop dived over for a consolation try, but Munster responded with a Luke O'Dea try to make the result safe.

The scorers:

For Munster:
Try: Barnes, Zebo, O'Dea, Penalty try
Con: Keatley 4
Pens: Keatley 2

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Godman, Brown, Laidlaw
Con: Laidlaw

Munster: 15 Denis Hurley, 14 Luke O'Dea, 13 Will Chambers, 12 Danny Barnes, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Paddy Butler, 7 Tommy O'Donnell, 6 Billy Holland, 5 Mick O'Driscoll (c), 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Denis Fogarty, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements: 16 Sean Henry, 17 John Ryan, 18 John Hayes, 19 Ian Nagle, 20 James Coughlan, 21 Duncan Williams, 22 Tom Gleeson, 23 Scott Deasy.

Edinburgh: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Sep Visser, 13 Jim Thompson, 12 James King, 11 Tom Brown, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Stuart McInally, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 Netani Talei, 5 Steven Turnbull, 4 Sean Cox, 3 Jack Gilding, 2 Steven Lawrie (c), 1 Kyle Traynor.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Lewis Niven, 19 Esteban Lozada, 20 Roddy Grant, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 Harry Leonard, 23 Gregor Hunter.