David Blair contributed an impressive 11 points in only his second outing in an Edinburgh shirt but two late Ronan O'Gara penalties handed Munster a last-minute win at Musgrave Park.

On two seperate occasions, Edinburgh were reduced to 14-men and O'Gara's 14-point haul narrowly seperated the two sides in a game littered with penalties.  

Edinburgh got off the worse possible start when Munster’s experienced stand-off O’Gara effortlessly swept over a penalty after only two minutes.

With seemingly all the early decisions going in favour of the home side, Edinburgh were left chasing the game, but still looked bright and purposeful moving forward.

But Munster had an opportunity to double their advantage when O’Gara was presented with another penalty chance, but the Ireland international’s attempt rattled against the posts.

Edinburgh’s defence helped them to claw their way back into contention and head coach Andy Robinson must have been pleased with the collective combination of discipline and organisation shown by the players.

Rookie stand-off David Blair, in only his second Magners League game, helped Edinburgh to draw level with a well-struck penalty after 20 minutes.

But the score triggered a temporary lapse in concentration from the visitors and hooker Ross Ford was yellow-carded for killing the ball at the breakdown.

The 14-man Edinburgh team went down 6-3 when O’Gara scored the resultant penalty, but the visitors restored parity with a Blair dropped goal.

In front of an expectant home crowd, Munster drive forward and desperately tried to punch holes in Edinburgh’s watertight defence.

The home side’s honest toil eventually paid off when O’Gara’s incisive crossfield kick was taken by adventurous No8 Denis Leamy to dot down in the corner.

O’Gara added the extras leaving Edinburgh with a mountain to climb before the half-time interval, but the men in black and red responded with some thrilling offloads and an exuberant brand of rugby.

The bold approach paid dividends when comeback king Allan Jacobsen, in his first game since tearing his calf muscle while on World Cup duty with Scotland two months ago, finished off a flowing move by touching down.

Blair’s immaculate evening continued when he efficiently took care of the conversion leaving the sides all square at half-time.