Losing at home is never good.

But there was something about this one. A bad first 10 minutes and a bad last 15 minutes did for Munster here but much of what we saw in between ranged from the encouraging to the exhilarating but losing at home is never good. Style can never make for a bad result, especially at home but, as ever, context is king.

Munster made 14 changes to their starting lineup with World Cup miles and Saracens chief in the thinking. Edinburgh, on the other hand, went about strong as they could go but the difference between the two sides was not what you might have expected. I’ll put it like this, if Edinburgh were playing Saracens next week, they would have picked the side they picked here with maybe Barclay, and Nel added in. So, in that light, a losing bonus point isn’t the worst result on the planet but that’s only if you don’t spend too long thinking about the lead Munster had during the third quarter.

I’ll get to that in a minute but before that, let’s go back to the first twenty seconds because, in a lot of ways, it defined much of how this contest would be played.

If you’re Ben Healy – on your pro debut no less – this is the kind of start to a game that could only be made more of a nightmare by looking down at the kickoff and realising you forgot to put your shorts on. But it wasn’t really his fault – the pass from McCarthy wasn’t what it needed to be – but Munster conceded a try a few phases after the 5m scrum conceded in the aftermath of Alex Wootton dotting this down in goal all the same.

It was a bad start.

And bad starts like this affect how you build into the game and, for the next 20 minutes, Munster really struggled to get any kind of platform in the game. Every kick exit was met by the ultra-reliable Blair Kinghorn and, to compound that lack of release, we were making sloppy errors that allowed Edinburgh to continually dictate where the game would be played. A knock on in contact here, a mix up in backfield coverage there…

… and it all added up to a frustrating open quarter that had an exclamation mark put on it by a Van Der Walt penalty right on the 20-minute mark.

All of a sudden we were 10-0 down without much in the way of rugby being played and a quarter of the game gone. A reaction was needed – a Munster got it. A good restart after Edinburgh’s penalty pressured their exit and, once we took the ball, we were able to attack with a bit of space and tempo for the first time. It produced results.

Pace on the ball, quick recycling, danger all through the line – and space came with it. Munster won a penalty right in front of the posts when Bill Mata finally decided to try to kill Munster’s tempo on the floor and just like that, it was 10-3.

Munster started to come into the game at the breakdown and ran hard off those transitions to good effect.

When we came across the pitch on these transitions, we did so with pace, width and all with a good depth from the gain line. We had players running onto the ball with workable space in front of them. Do that with the right accuracy and you’ll give players a chance to make a play.

Munster still needed something, though, and got it when Edinburgh turned the ball over in midfield and Sam Arnold drove the ball deep into their half. Munster eventually won a penalty thanks to the harrying of Nash and Daly and it felt like a big moment in the stadium.

It was the mental turn in the game that Munster had been looking for since the error in the first 20 seconds.

Munster took the resulting 5m lineout and, after a series of close phases, eventually scored despite Edinburgh’s incredibly dangerous lifting of the post pads and Marius Mitrea’s disgraceful inaction in punishing them for it.

I don’t think that this will be last that Edinburgh or Mitrea will hear of this incident. That aside, Munster were back in the game and looking like the “flow” had kicked into gear. We took the Edinburgh restart and went straight back at them.

This break came from the excellent Dan Goggin spotting a bit of separation in the Edinburgh chase and going straight after it with excellent support from Wootton and O’Donoghue. Edinburgh were rattled and conceded two penalties in quick succession.

We were a little unlucky – and maybe unwise – not to take the points on offer and went in level at half time.

From there, I thought the start of the second half was played with the same tempo and variation in our phase play and that reflected on the scoreboard. We crept out to 13-10 and then 16-10 before a succession of errors began to chip away at our lead. When we took the lead we had the luxury of being able to dictate the progression of the game to Edinburgh but were undone by a few poor restarts and one accidental offside that we’ll have been furious with.

At 16-18, we were still very much in the contest but, as in the first 20 minutes, we just couldn’t click into the game. This moment in the last quarter was key. Munster had won a scrum penalty and kicked into the Edinburgh half but were adjudged to have made a dummy throw by Mitrea.

A free-kick could equally have been given for Edinburgh closing the gap but that’s not how it went. The resulting scrum ended up being a full penalty for early engagement to Edinburgh and, with 75 minutes on the clock, that gave them the field position they would need to get the job done.

There are no moral victories for Munster here. A loss is a loss and there’s no squaring that away… but when you consider the two sides and relative strengths of both teamsheets, that sourness at a loss is a good sign in itself. Munster, massive changes included, could and should have won this game. That means very little when it comes to actual points earned here but it’s noteworthy in and of itself. This is an Edinburgh selection that is arguably better than the team that almost knocked our Category 1 team out of the Heineken Cup last season but the difference between the two sides wasn’t that apparent on Friday night.

Take out the unforced errors from this Munster performance and we’re talking about a very different result but it’s the removal of those unforced errors that’s the thing. Overall, this was a sour enough result but with enough encouraging notes to make it taste a little better in hindsight.

The Wally Ratings: Edinburgh (H)

The Wally Ratings explainer page is here.  

Players are rated based on their time on the pitch, if they were playing notably out of position, and on the overall curve of the team performance. DNP means the player did not feature and N/A means they weren’t on the pitch long enough to warrant a fair rating.

Names	Rating
Liam O'Connor	★★★★
Rhys Marshall	★★★
Stephen Archer	★★★
Darren O'Shea	★★
Fineen Wycherley	★★
Jack O'Donoghue	★★★
Tommy O'Donnell	★★★
Arno Botha	★★★★
Nick McCarthy	★★★
Ben Healy	★★★★
Alex Wootton	★★★
Dan Goggin	★★★
Sam Arnold	★★
Calvin Nash	★★★
Shane Daly	★★★
Kevin O'Byrne	★★★
James Cronin	★★★
Keynan Knox	★★★
Jed Holloway	★★★
Conor Oliver	★★
Neil Cronin	N/A
JJ Hanrahan	N/A
Rory Scanell	N/A

Notable Players

I thought both Darren O’Shea and Fineen Wycherley played a fair bit below their level here. O’Shea had a good few errors under the high ball on restarts and I felt that Wycherley dropped back a little on what we’ve seen from him this season in a few errors. Wycherley, in particular, looks a real player so the few slipped tackles and handling errors here were all the more glaring.

I thought Ben Healy had a very composed debut, especially after the rough start, and the way he grew into the game hinted at a young player with a seriously good mindset. His kicking, link work and toughness on the gain line was notable throughout his sixty minutes.

Impressive.

I thought Dan Goggin had another good showing here. He beat defenders, his passing has improved no end and he looked super efficient with his possession. Shane Daly, too, had a decent outing on both sides of the ball and looked like a guy who’s got the potential to be a complete back three player.

Liam O’Connor had a great game, for me. His scrummaging was aggressive and technical, and his ball-carrying had excellent pop to it. He’s a guy who seems to really suit the extra width and time on the ball we’re getting off #9 and didn’t look at all out of place against strong opposition.

Looking back over the game, Arno Botha was the key man for me. Powerful carrying, excellent hands and really strong defence are Botha’s usual hallmarks when he’s playing well and they were all present here. In a game that had some really good back row players in it on both sides, Botha was the standout operator, and that’s something that could well influence Van Graan’s thinking ahead of Saracens. ★★★★