Munster in hunt, Tigers held

Published: Sunday, 13. January, 2013 in category Heineken Cup
Munster: Defeated Edinburgh at Murrayfield

Munster remain in the hunt for a place in the Heineken Cup knockout stages after a 26-17 win at Edinburgh, while Leicester drew with Ospreys.

A penalty try and a touchdown by Conor Murray plus 14 points from the boot of Ronan O'Gara sealed the victory for Munster at Murrayfield, while the home side's points came through two tries from Dougie Fife, both converted by Greig Laidlaw, who also landed a penalty.

The win leaves Munster in second place in Pool One on 15 points, three behind leaders Saracens and three ahead of Racing Metro. Edinburgh remain bottom without a point.

Leicester will need to beat four-time European champions Toulouse at Welford Road next Sunday in their quest for a prized quarter-final place.

The Tigers lie two points behind the French heavyweights in Pool Two following an absorbing 15-15 Liberty Stadium stalemate that saw Ospreys< substitute Jonathan Spratt score a 77th-minute try to deny Leicester victory.

The visitors looked to have done enough through quickfire second-half touchdowns from scrum-half Ben Youngs and wing Niall Morris after they trailed 10-3 for much of the contest after Ospreys posted a 34th-minute Joe Bearman touchdown.

Dan Biggar and his opposite number, Leicester's Toby Flood, each kicked a conversion and penalty, but the Ospreys would have won had Biggar not missed four penalties - three of them either hit the post or bar - and a late conversion.

As mentioned, a bonus-point 35-14 win over Benetton Treviso saw Toulouse leapfrog Leicester to go three points clear in Pool Two.

Tobias Botes' early penalty gave Treviso the lead at the Stade Ernest Wallon but after Gary Botha got over in the sixth minute, Toulouse would not look back.

Tommaso Benvenuti dotted down four minutes later to level the scores but further tries from Patricio Albacete, Vincent Clerc and Florian Fritz sent the hosts well clear.