Edinburgh, seventh, have 11 wins from 16
Munster, third, boast same record but have eight more bonus points
Edinburgh 0-0 Munster
Munster have come out swinging as they are already looking to make their mark on the game.
They made their way up to within four metres of the Edinburgh line but a spilled ball by Jack Crowley gives the hosts the first scrum of the evening.
Dangerous start from the visitors.
Edinburgh 0-0 Munster
Jack Crowley gets this crunch match under way.
Edinburgh v Munster (19:35)
Jack O'Donoghue is the latest and the youngest player to reach 200 caps for Munster.
The 30-year-old made his Munster Rugby senior debut when coming off the bench for Robin Copeland after 57 minutes against Zebre in Thomond Park in September 2014 where he went on to make 10 senior appearances that season in addition to captaining the Munster ‘A’ squad throughout 2014/15.
The back-row made 40 appearances across the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons and signed another two year contract which saw him clock up the most minutes (1,638) out of anyone in the squad during the 2021/22 campaign. He was awarded the Munster player of the year that season and became the youngest player to reach 150 appearances for the province.
Another stellar season in 2022/23 saw O’Donoghue make 23 appearances as Munster won the URC title.
Image source, Getty ImagesEdinburgh v Munster (19:35)
Munster head coach Graham Rowntree has made five changes as his side travel to the Scottish capital.
Mike Haley and Antoine Frisch come into the backline as Oli Jager, Fineen Wycherley and Gavin Coombes start in the pack. Alex Nankivell moves to inside centre and Jack O’Donoghue shifts from no.8 to blindside flanker.
Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell and Oli Jager pack down in the front row as Jager makes his first start since February after recently recovering from a knee injury.
Fineen Wycherley and captain Tadhg Beirne start together in the engine room with O’Donoghue, Alex Kendellen and Gavin Coombes completing the starting XV.
Edinburgh v Munster (19:35)
Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt has made just one change to the starting XV who put 40 points past Zebre last weekend.
Co-captain Ben Vellacott starts ahead of Ali Price at scrum-half as Edinburgh host reigning champions Munster in a crunch contest this evening.
With two games remaining, Edinburgh are seventh in the chase to reach the play-offs with a top-eight finish.
Munster occupy third and are seeking an eighth consecutive URC win.
Edinburgh v Munster (19:35)
Edinburgh: Goosen, Currie, Bennett, Lang, van der Merwe, Healy, Vellacott (CC); Schoeman, Ashman Nel, Skinner, Gilchrist (CC), Ritchie, Watson, Mata.
Replacements: Cherry, Venter, Sebastian, Sykes, Crosbie, Price, Scott, Dean.
Munster: Haley; Nash, Frisch, Nankivell, Daly, Crowley, Casey; Loughman, Scannell, Jager, Wycherley, Beirne (C), O’Donoghue, Kendellen, Coombes.
Replacements: Clarke, Donnelly, Ryan, Snyman, Ahern, Murray, Scannell, Gleeson.
Edinburgh v Munster (19:35)
Hello and welcome to our coverage of tonight's United Rugby Championship clash between Edinburgh and Munster.
Edinburgh have faced an uphill battle into the top eight and it isn't over just yet as they face Irish giants Munster who have won their last seven consecutive URC games.
Let's see how the teams line up in the capital.
Image source, SNS
Edinburgh’s United Rugby Championship play-off hopes were dented as they went down 26-29 to a Munster side whose title defence is gathering steam.
Eight points from the boot of Ben Healy and a Mark Bennett try gave the hosts a 16-12 half-time lead, with Antoine Frisch crossing twice for the Irish side.
Tries from Jack Crowley and Gavin Coombes turned the tide in Munster’s favour, and while Boan Venter responded for the home side, Crowley’s penalty proved decisive.
Munster now top the table, with Edinburgh’s losing bonus point moving them up to sixth.
At a packed-out Hive Stadium in the glorious Edinburgh evening sunshine, the home side knew the defending URC champions would provide a true measure of their progress under Sean Everitt this season.
Munster came racing out the blocks and pummelled the Edinburgh line straight from kick-off, but having withstood that early onslaught it was the men in blue who took a grip on proceedings with two successful penalties from Healy.
The visitors hit back when the ball was floated out to Frisch, who chipped over the top and regathered to dot down for the game’s opening try.
Healy, playing against his former club, hit back with another three-pointer before Bennett capitalised on confusion in the Munster defence to dive over.
Edinburgh were making life very uncomfortable for the champions and forced a string of uncharacteristic errors.
When the men in red did manage to get hands on ball, though, they played at a tempo that Edinburgh found hard to live with and a superb passage of play ended with Frisch going over for his second try of the evening.
Still trailing by four points at the break, Munster started the second half with purpose and Crowley ghosted through a first-phase scrum move to glide over and give the Irish side the lead for the first time at 19-16.
Healy levelled things up from the tee and moments later was wiped out by substitute RG Snyman a split-second after he put boot to ball with a clearance kick. The two became embroiled afterwards and inevitably both sides piled in.
When the dust settled the referee ruled, much to the home crowd’s fury, that the only transgression had been committed by Bill Mata in coming to Healy’s aid and awarded the penalty to Munster.
The Edinburgh fans’ anger was heightened in the next phase when Coombes ploughed over to put Munster back in front.
There was a lovely moment on the hour mark as WP Nel departed the field on what could be his final home appearance in Edinburgh colours.
The reception the warhorse received told you everything about the prop’s contribution to Scottish rugby over the past 12 years.
The home side were back on the front foot and when Conor Murray was sent to the bin for killing the ball on his own tryline, Edinburgh sensed their moment. After several failed attempts at the line, substitute Venter eventually forced himself over.
Healy added the extras to even the scores again at 26-26, only for Crowley to respond with a penalty to edge the visitors in front again going into the final 10 minutes.
Edinburgh were awarded a kickable penalty straight from kick-off but shunned the posts and instead went to the corner. The decision proved to be the wrong one as a poorly executed lineout allowed Munster to escape.
The Irish side pressed for a fifth try that never came and while Edinburgh almost squandered their losing point with a Hail Mary play from behind their own posts, they did emerge with something for their efforts.
Their play-off hopes will now go to the final weekend when they may need something from their trip to Italy to face Benetton to book a place in the top eight.
Edinburgh coach Sean Everitt: “Very disappointed. I thought the guys put in a good showing against the top team in the URC.
“I think the bounce of the ball at times didn’t really go our way but it was really close. The team has improved and we’ll take the positives out of it.
“If we can perform like this against Benetton we’ll get the result in Italy.”