Keith Earls sinks Edinburgh to put Munster in Champions Cup semi-finals

Two tries from Keith Earls secured Munster a 17-13 victory at Edinburgh and a 14th Champions Cup semi-final appearance.

The winger scored a brilliantly executed second try with nine minutes left to turn the game on its head, after Edinburgh had fought back from 7-0 down to lead for much of the game thanks to Chris Dean’s try and Jaco van der Walt’s kicking.

The visitors were making a record 18th appearance in the last eight and used all their experience to kill the game and ensure there was no late scare.

Edinburgh, meanwhile, are relative novices in the latter stages of the tournament but had won 17 of their past 19 home games in Europe, and 11 out of 12 in total at home this season.

The hosts started on the front foot and opted to kick two penalties inside the 22-metre line into touch, but Munster defended without major concern.

Edinburgh went the same route after Tadhg Beirne was shown a yellow card in the 12th minute for killing the ball after inventive play from John Barclay had left the visitors exposed.

Munster emerged unscathed following some desperate defending on their line with a penalty award relieving the pressure and they were soon on the attack.

They got the breakthrough after the Edinburgh scrum-half, Henry Pyrgos, deliberately knocked-on as the ball emerged from a five-metre scrum. Earls took a quick tap and darted over.

Edinburgh complained that Conor Murray had slammed Pyrgos to the ground just before Earls exploited the gap but the referee, Pascal Gaüzère, refused to take another look. Joey Carbery converted.

The numbers were evened up before some patient possession and quick ball inside the Munster 22 paid off as Dean went over, and Van der Walt levelled the scores before kicking a penalty.

Munster lost Carbery, the top scorer in the pool stages, to injury as Edinburgh defended a series of high kicks to go into the break 10-7 ahead.

Carbery’s replacement, Tyler Bleyendaal, and Van der Walt traded penalties before Munster enjoyed a strong period. But Darren Sweetnam was stopped just before the line and Edinburgh’s pack won a penalty to relieve the pressure.

The hosts went back on the attack and Darcy Graham and Damien Hoyland were bundled into touch on either wing as Edinburgh stretched their opponents.

The match turned on an infringement off the ball when Pierre Schoeman was ruled to have barged Beirne near the halfway line with his team in possession.

After treatment for Beirne, Munster kicked the penalty to touch and soon produced their best series of passing to send Earls diving over in the corner.

Bleyendaal kicked brilliantly to extend the gap to four points and leave Edinburgh needing a try, but they could barely get past the Munster 40-metre line.

Stockdale slip lets in Leinster

Ulster were left to rue Jacob Stockdale’s try-scoring blunder after defending champions Leinster came from behind to win a gruelling all-Irish quarter-final 21-18 at the Aviva Stadium.

The joint-leading try scorer from the pool stages with six, Stockdale crucially lost control of the ball past the try-line early in the second half, and despite Luke Marshall’s subsequent try bringing them level, the Ulstermen fell short thanks to Ross Byrne’s 71st-minute penalty and a dominant final 41 phases of possession rugby from the hosts.

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A surprise result had looked a possibility when Kieran Treadwell and Byrne, who deputised at fly-half for the injured Johnny Sexton, swapped tries inside the opening 10 minutes. Despite losing captain Rory Best to an early ankle injury, John Cooney’s eight points from the tee had Dan McFarland’s underdogs 13-11 ahead at half-time.

It was a tale of two wingers when Stockdale agonisingly dropped the ball from his grasp, and a subsequent Leinster attack sent Adam Byrne over for a momentum-shifting 53rd-minute score.

They had to show huge resilience in the end, coming through the setback of Dan Leavy’s horrific knee injury and Marshall’s levelling five-pointer to settle the issue through Byrne’s reliable right boot and await the winners of Sunday’s Racing 92 v Toulouse game.