URC: Superb Munster beat Edinburgh, Sharks win after changing coach – planetrugby.com

Munster displayed the biggest hint yet that they are starting to improve under new head coach Graham Rowntree after defeating Edinburgh 38-17 in the United Rugby Championship on Friday.
The Irish province endured a difficult start to the campaign, but they have won three of their past five matches.
They moved closer to the Scottish outfit in the table after recovering from a slow start, which saw Chris Dean and Darcy Graham go over for the hosts, to run in five tries.
Craig Casey began the comeback by going over before Jamie Ritchie touched down to move Edinburgh 17-7 ahead. However, tries either side of the interval from Rory Scannell and Calvin Nash took the visitors in front and changed the course of the match.
A Gavin Coombes try and a further penalty from Joey Carbery effectively secured the win before the Munster playmaker rubberstamped the result by crossing the whitewash late on.
There was an emotional moment’s applause before kick-off as a tribute to former Scotland international Doddie Weir, who lost his battle with motor neurone disease last weekend.
Edinburgh – with most of their internationals back after the autumn series – wasted little time finding their stride and went ahead with just two minutes on the clock when Dean raced in behind the posts after being fed by Luke Crosbie. Blair Kinghorn made no mistake with the kick.
The hosts spent much of the early stages on the front foot and in the 15th minute rampant winger Graham – fresh from his hat-trick for Scotland against Argentina a fortnight ago – intercepted a pass just inside his own half and dashed clear down the right to score his ninth URC try of the season. Kinghorn saw his conversion attempt come back off the post.
Having fallen 12 points behind, Munster started to come to life and they got themselves back in the game in the 24th minute when Casey forced his way over after a sustained spell of pressure. Carbery was successful with the conversion.
Edinburgh’s early momentum was further disrupted in the 27th minute when Graham had to go off injured, replaced by Jaco van der Walt.
But the hosts regained their poise and stretched their lead in the 37th minute when Scotland captain Ritchie spun away from a couple of tackles wide on the right and touched down after good play by Dean and Kinghorn to set him up. Kinghorn was off target with the conversion.
Munster reduced their deficit to just three points in the last action of the half, however, when Rory Scannell found a gap in the Edinburgh defence to bound over from close range and Carbery made no mistake with the conversion.
The visitors got themselves in front for the first time just two minutes into the second half when Nash burst gleefully between the posts, with Carbery again converting.
After a dominant start to the second half, Munster – who had trailed 17-7 towards the end of the first half – went 11 points in front after 53 minutes when Coombes forced his way over the line and Carbery added the extras.
Carbery then took the score to 31-17 when he continued his immaculate kicking to send a penalty between the posts in the 64th minute. And the number 10 capped off a fine night for himself when he scored a try and then converted in the very last action of the night.
The Ospreys left Durban empty-handed despite overcoming illness and international unavailability to push the Sharks hard in a 25-10 United Rugby Championship defeat.
The Sharks’ shock 35-0 loss to Cardiff last weekend led to the departure of head coach Sean Everitt, and they again struggled to take control against their latest Welsh visitors despite welcoming back some of their Springbok stars.
Toby Booth was without his Wales players and was forced to make a pair of late changes to his matchday squad due to illness, yet the Ospreys entered the last five minutes only a point behind.
Two Curwin Bosch penalties earned the Sharks – under the leadership of director of rugby Neil Powell – a 6-0 lead at the break, but Luke Morgan touched down early in the second half to reduce the arrears.
Sikhumbuzo Notshe responded for the Sharks before Morgan Morris gave the Ospreys hope heading towards the last 10 minutes.
However, neither of those Ospreys tries were converted and both Bosch and James Venter went over late on to deny the visitors the losing bonus-point their effort arguably deserved.
READ MORE: James Lowe back from injury for Leinster against Ulster who will be captained by Iain Henderson
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