Round-up: Penney tells Munster to keep on improving despite emphatic win

Tommy Bell kicked seven conversions in Wasps’ win (Getty Images)

A 33-0 Heineken Cup victory would satisfy most coaches but Rob Penney insists his Munster side must improve on their performance against Edinburgh yesterday if they are to triumph in their crucial back-to-back European games with Saracens in December.

The Irish side trail Pool One leaders Saracens by three points after their demolition of a poor Edinburgh side at Thomond Park. Three tries in the final 10 minutes from Peter O'Mahony, Sean Dougall and Damien Varley, to add to Conor Murray's earlier touchdown, ensured Munster collected an unlikely bonus point.

Having shipped 78 unanswered points in their two opening Heineken Cup fixtures, Edinburgh have seen their hopes of making the quarter-finals all but disappear.

Penney said: "The bonus point could be very important. The critical thing is we have a couple of massive games pre-Christmas against Saracens. We are still masters of our own destiny in that regard. If we do well then we are still in the hunt, whether we get bonus points or not.

"The performance today probably wouldn't be good enough to beat Saracens. We still have lots and lots to do. The most pleasing thing about this win was the way the boys embraced their work and got into it.

"They were hurt after last week [against Racing Metro]. We still have a lot of improving to do. Our unforced error rate was far too high. Edinburgh were hurting as well and for the first half it was a competitive match. I felt we dominated territorially for large parts and controlled the fixture to that point, but we hadn't capitalised or got the rewards."

Edinburgh's Michael Bradley admitted his charges had been "embarrassed again", a week after their 45-0 home defeat by Saracens. "It is not looking good," Bradley admitted. "At this stage you won't be saying 'no' to qualifying for the quarter-finals...if we win the last four games and get four bonus points and scrape in as the number eight qualifier, which is very unlikely.

"We are not necessarily worried about winning the Heineken Cup or the Amlin Challenge Cup now, we are more worried about winning the next [league] match against the Scarlets at this stage."

Wasps made it two wins from two at the start of their Amlin Cup campaign with a 59-12 victory over Italian side Mogliano at the Stadio Maurizio Quaggia yesterday. Wasps outscored their opponents nine tries to two, with Christian Wade crossing twice and Tommy Bell, who started in the No 10 jersey after Stephen Jones and Nick Robinson failed fitness tests, adding seven conversions.

The victory leaves Wasps top of Pool Three on 10 points, one ahead of Bayonne, with Newport-Gwent Dragons third on one point and Mogliano yet to get off the mark.