Edinburgh crashed to earth with an almighty thump as they were ripped to shreds by Euro specialists Munster.
They had gone into the Heineken Cup battle at Thomond Park in the hope of sneaking the win that would have earned a ticket to the quarter-finals of the consolation Amlin tournament.
However, they had no answer to the all-round talents of the Munster muscle-men, who will fancy their chances of regaining their title.
Edinburgh made an urgent start, with Tom Brown within a fingertip of latching on to a clever Greig Tonks cross-kick.
There was further early disappointment when skipper Greig Laidlaw sent his first penalty attempt past the far post in the wake of obstruction at a line-out.
He made quick amends, however, from a more challenging strike, only for Munster to grab a try against the run of play.
Paul O’Connell claimed the restart and following slick recycling, breakaway forward James Coughlin powered over.
Munster’s sheer power in the pack was then underlined as they demolished the Gunners at a scrum in the danger-zone.
They opted for an attacking line-up instead of going for the posts. And, after a series of one-sided scrums, a huge hole opened up for winger John Murphy to skip over for a try. Ian Keatley converted.
Laidlaw eased the jitters with his second penalty in the 28th minute and that was the cue for the visitors to mount their most threatening series of raids of the contest.
Only frantic defending kept out Laidlaw, Al Dickinson and Dave Denton.
The half ended in controversial fashion as Edinburgh flanker Cornell Du Preez was yellow carded for a head-first entry to a ruck, which was deemed dangerous by referee Wayne Barnes.
Munster stepped up the pace after the restart with the extra man and created a third score within three minutes. Connor Murray got the vital touch, with Keatley adding the extras.
Edinburgh’s fate was sealed midway through the half as skipper Peter O’Mahony bulldozed over to make sure of the bonus point, ensuring a home quarter-final in the process. Keatley was bang on target again.
Sub Simon Zebo and Felix Jones added further tries as it turned into a rout.