Pro12: Munster 27-19 Edinburgh

Simon Zebo was among Munster's try-scorers at Irish Independent Park

Munster boosted their prospects of earning a European Champions Cup spot and dented Edinburgh's qualification hopes by winning Friday's Pro12 game.

The Irish province are now sixth which would be enough to clinch a Champions Cup spot as Edinburgh drop to seventh.

Tries from Rory Scannell, Simon Zebo and Andrew Conway put Munster 20-13 ahead at half-time with Jason Tovey scoring all Edinburgh's points.

Two Edinburgh penalties left only one point in it before Francis Saili's try.

Saili's 76th-minute score eased Munster nerves and secured the home team's bonus point after they had looked in danger of suffering another damaging home defeat.

Munster started well as man of the match Conway's superb off-load set up Scannell to score in the corner in the fifth minute.

But Munster were behind by the 18th minute as Tovey evaded Stephen Archer and Simon Zebo far too easily before touching down, with his conversion extending Edinburgh's lead to 10-7.

Zebo atoned as he ran on to a Conway grubber kick to score and the wing himself notched Munster's third try after a CJ Stander charge.

After Tovey cut the margin to 20-13 by half-time, Edinburgh's scrum superiority threatened to take the game away from Munster as the fly-half's third penalty was followed by three more points from replacement Sam Hidalgo-Clyne.

However, Munster's time-honoured maul served them well in the closing stages as Saili got their match-winning fourth try after Keith Earls had been held up a couple of minutes earlier.

A bonus-point defeat in next weekend's home game against Scarlets will be enough to clinch Munster a Champions Cup berth.

Indeed, Munster could go into final round of regular fixtures still in with an outside chance of clinching a Pro12 semi-final place if Leinster and the Dragons manage to defeat Ulster and the Scarlets on Saturday.

Munster: Simon Zebo; Andrew Conway, Francis Saili, Rory Scannell, Keith Earls; Johnny Holland, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer; Dave Foley, Billy Holland; Dave O'Callaghan, Tommy O'Donnell, CJ Stander (capt).

Replacements: Mike Sherry for Niall Scannell 57, James Cronin for Kilcoyne 54, John Ryan for Archer 68, Robin Copeland for Foley 62, Jack O'Donoghue for O'Callaghan 74

Not used: Duncan Williams, Ian Keatley, Ronan O'Mahony.

Edinburgh: Blair Kinghorn, Damien Hoyland, Matt Scott, Andries Strauss, Tom Brown, Jason Tovey, Sean Kennedy, Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford (capt), WP Nel, Anton Bresler, Ben Toolis, Jamie Ritchie, John Hardie, Cornell Du Preez.

Replacements: Stuart McInally for Ford 41, Rory Sutherland for Dickinson 58, John Andress for Nel 67, Alex Toolis for Bresler 67, Magnus Bradbury for Ritchie 52, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne for Kennedy 54, Chris Dean for Brown 41, Dougie Fife for Kinghorn 10.