Toulon labour on as Munster blank Edinburgh

Star-studded Toulon laboured past Cardiff Blues for their second win in two outings in European Cup action on Sunday, as former two-time champions Munster ran out comfortable victors over pointless Edinburgh. Jonny Wilkinson kicked five penalties and a conversion for a personal haul of 17 points as Toulon ran out 22-14 winners in Cardiff. The French club's sole try came from erstwhile England flanker Steffon Armitage as a Blues side inspired by Wales trio Leigh Halfpenny, Alex Cuthbert and Lou Reed battled to keep the home side in the game. Halfpenny opened the scoring with a surprise try in just the second minute, making the most of a midfield defensive lapse by Australian Matt Giteau after a nice inside pass from winger Tom James. Wilkinson made no mistake with a simple penalty after 10 minutes and hit a second soon after to move his side ahead, but the English star pushed a third effort wide, as did Halfpenny with his first effort on the half-hour. Toulon enjoyed the lion's share of possession but seemed to lack any real gameplan, with an overloaded midfield in which home centre Gavin Evans was stretchered off after a high Delon Armitage tackle. An opportunistic drop-goal by Wilkinson went wide, to cheers from the home crowd, with the French side camped in the Blues 22m area. With such a lack of ambition, the home side deserved to re-take the lead with a Halfpenny penalty just before the break. After a turnover, the Blues again put themselves on the front foot, Halfpenny tracking down an isolated Giteau but slipped as he attempted the resulting penalty. Wilkinson made no such mistake when next up in front of Cardiff's posts, but Halfpenny dragged the hosts back into the game with a penalty with 20 minutes to play. The French side immediately fired back, however, France scrum-half Frederic Michalak overseeing a series of midfield attacks, with Steffon Armitage eventually crashing over after a break by Giteau, Wilkinson converting. Going into the final minutes, Halfpenny kicked his third penalty to ensure a nerve-racking finale. But a basic ruck infringement handed Toulon the advantage from the re-start, and Wilkinson booted a simple penalty to wrap up an afternoon the French side made much more difficult for themselves than had seemed warranted. In Munster's Thomond Park fortress, Edinburgh were put to the sword for the second week running. After going down 45-0 to Saracens last week, the Scottish team - last year's semi-finalist, suffered a humiliating 33-0 drubbing to a Munster side that refocused themselves on their traditional strengths up front and around the fringes. Ian Keatley, deputising for the injured Ronan O'Gara at fly-half, marshalled things well and kicked 13 points (three penalties, two conversions), with the four second-half tries handing the Irish province a winning bonus point. Scrum-half Conor Murray crossed for the first, opportunist, try, darting from the back of a ruck to cross under a mass of bodies. Impressive No 8 Peter O'Mahoney notched up Munster's second, rolling over after a well-executed maul from a line-out, flanker Sean Dougall crossing almost immediately after, thanks to a Paddy Butler break and good backing up by Keatley. With Edinburgh in disarray, replacement hooker Damien Varley then crossed, again from a smart line-out move, to ensure the extra point and deepen the concerns of Michael Bradley, coach of the Scottish region.