Edinburgh 12-6 Munster: Richard Cockerill savours 'exciting' season climax

Under Richard Cockerill, Edinburgh have won 12 of their 17 Pro14 fixtures this season

Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill is savouring an "exciting" end to the season after his side claimed a fifth straight Pro14 win by beating Munster.

Friday's 12-6 triumph moved Edinburgh nine points clear in third place in Conference B, with the top three teams progressing to the play-offs.

Cockerill's men have also booked a home European Challenge Cup quarter-final against Cardiff Blues on 31 March.

"We want to be quarter-finals, semi-finals if we can," Cockerill said.

"We want to test ourselves. It's exciting, isn't it? We're in the business-end of the season and we're still in for play-offs, we're still in for Europe, even though it's the second tier - let's not get too excited - but it's there to be won if we can do that.

"We want to qualify for Europe, we want to eat at the big table and we're working hard to do that."

Duhan van der Merwe scored the only tries in a turgid battle at Murrayfield, the towering South African winger crossing in each half to propel Edinburgh to victory over the Irish province.

A summer signing from Montpellier, Duhan van der Merwe touched down twice against Munster

Munster were restricted to two JJ Hanrahan penalties, while Edinburgh had two further tries disallowed for infringements.

Number eight Viliame Mata's early effort was chalked off after he was ruled to have picked the ball up from an offside position at a ruck, while obstruction denied Dougie Fife a second-half score.

The victory leaves in-form Edinburgh nine points ahead of fourth-placed Ulster - who do not play this weekend, but have a game in hand - with four league fixtures remaining.

They trail defending champions Scarlets, who sit second, by six points.

"Ugly game, wasn't it? But a great win, so we're finding ways to win games," Cockerill told BBC Scotland of Friday's tussle.

"I was disappointed with Bill Mata's try, I'll have to ask the referee's assessors whether that's law or not, but there were parts of it where I thought we were a little bit on the wrong end of the refereeing decisions.

"But to score four, to get two, and get the result is great for us in the mix-up with trying to get away from Ulster and trying to catch Scarlets.

Edinburgh endured a club record losing run of nine matches during last season, but are now in fine form

"The players have earned the right to be there; they're coming in every day and doing their jobs really well, and because we're getting some results they're getting some satisfaction.

"We're in the mix, and we've given ourselves opportunities to do something good with the season.

"I don't want to tempt fate, we've just got to turn up, play as hard as we can and see where we get to."