Celtic League/ Munster 30 Edinburgh Rugby 20: Munster and Edinburgh will meet again in two weeks' time in the quarter-final of the Celtic Cup and if Saturday's league tie between them is a reliable yardstick, then it should be well worth a visit.

Edinburgh put it up to Munster, especially in the early stages, and jumped into a 13-point lead within eight minutes with a try by prop Phil Godman after a clever break by scrumhalf Michael Blair and two penalties and a conversion by Chris Paterson. Not for the first time this season, Munster were suffering from a slow start but they were settled by a try following a lineout maul by John Hayes and went in 17-13 at half-time after further tries by Alan Quinlan and Anthony Horgan.

Peter Stringer played a prominent part in both scores while all the time there were signs of a big return to form by Denis Leamy as he spearheaded several attacks, much to the delight of a crowd of close on 4, 000. Leamy joined in the scoring spree when he charged down a kick on 54 minutes to claim his first try. Edinburgh were up for the occasion and remained in touch thanks to a well-taken try by replacement Alistair Dickenson that Paterson converted to leave two points between the sides.

However, the Scots had nobody in the same class as Leamy, who struck for his second try in the 66th minute. Paul Burke came in as a substitute and closed the scoring with a penalty close to full time.

Leamy merited the man-of-the-match tag and it was also good to see Lions Hayes, Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan, who came in as a replacement, perform to their usual high standards.

Edinburgh, with Paterson on the wing, and Nathan Hines and Scott Murray forming a powerful secondrow partnership, were no pushover and so this was the kind of game that should stand to Munster.

MUNSTER: S Payne; P Devlin, M Mullins, R Henderson, A Horgan; J Holland, P Stringer; G McIlwham, F Sheahan, J Hayes, T Hogan, P O'Connell, A Quinlan, D Leamy, A Foley (capt). Replacements: J Kelly for Horgan (45 mins), P Burke for Henderson (67 mins), D O'Callaghan for Hogan (62 mins), S Keogh for Leamy (73 mins), E McGovern for McIlwham (68 mins).

EDINBURGH: H Southwell; C Paterson, M DiRollo, B Laney, S Webster; P Godman, M Blair; A Jacobson, A Kelly, C Smith, N Hines, S Murray, T Blackadder (capt), A Hogg, D Callam. Replacements: C Joiner for Laney (31 mins), D Kelly for A Kelly (half-time), A Dickenson for Jacobson (51 mins), S Cross for Callam (62 mins).

Referee: N Williams (Wales).