Cockerill remarkably restrained in response to Murray incident
Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill lamented the “tiny, tiny margins” after his side fell to a 17-13 defeat to Munster in the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals.
Edinburgh led with 10 minutes left but prop Pierre Schoeman was penalised for barging Tadhg Beirne with his team in control of the ball, and Keith Earls dived over in the corner soon after Munster kicked the penalty into touch.
Earls had scored the first try of the contest with Beirne in the sin bin after Edinburgh had failed to make the most of three penalties inside the 22.
Chris Dean’s try and Jaco Van Der Walt’s kicking put the hosts in the driving seat in front of 36,358 fans at BT Murrayfield, but the visitors comfortably saw out the win after a brilliant and crucial conversion from Tyler Bleyendaal.
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Cockerill said: “It was one hell of a contest and tiny, tiny margins decide these things – a penalty that gets reversed, a line-out that’s overthrown that bounces their way and in the ensuing play they score.
“But we had opportunities to score in the first half which we didn’t take, we had massive moments defending our own line.
“Even from our first try, I thought their player knocked it on. It’s tiny margins from the officiating.
“It was two very good teams going very hard at the game. I’m very proud of how we performed. Munster are a great team and we are now able to compete at that level. We have got to learn how to win these tight battles. In the tightest of moments they have got to be better.”
Edinburgh players complained Henry Pyrgos had been slammed to the ground just as Earls took a quick penalty to dart over to open the scoring, but Cockerill would offer no opinion on the controversy without another look.
But he added: “It’s the differences from a referee, the bounce of the ball, a bit of discipline from Pierre Schoeman at the end and you’re kicking a goal and you are six points up and win the game.
Quality from Keith Earls! ?
Quick thinking and quick feet gives Munster the opening score of the Champions Cup quarter-finals ?
Intelligence = ? pic.twitter.com/A1y2mmewpd
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) March 30, 2019
“That’s life, I am not going to criticise Pierre because he’s a committed player and he does what he does and I’ll back him to the hilt. But those are the falls sometimes.”
Munster secured their 14th victory from 18 Champions Cup quarter-finals and head coach Johann Van Graan attributed their winning mentality to the people who make up the club on and off the park.
“If you were inside the bus when we arrived here, it was breathtaking to see the supporters,” he said. “It felt like we were going to play at home.
“And in terms of the group, that’s why I came to Munster, because of what Munster is about. It’s about passion, integrity, real heart and real grit. Munster never seem to do it the easy way and we certainly didn’t do that today.
“I am incredibly proud to be the coach of this team.
“It’s our third semi-final in a row and this was a big win for us. Just look at the history of European rugby, you don’t come away with away quarter-final wins.”
PA
Comments on RugbyPass
What ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
129 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
129 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
129 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
129 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
129 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
129 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
129 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
129 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
129 Go to commentsHo hum.
129 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
129 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
129 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
129 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
129 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
129 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
129 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
129 Go to comments