Connacht will face French resistance head-on in the Alps this evening with a European Challenge Cup semi-final at stake.

Munster 29 Grenoble 38: A thoroughly convincing 30-minute debut in the red jersey by Tyler Bleyendaal convinced onlookers at Thomond Park that Munster may have come up with a priceless nugget in the New Zealand number 10.

Connacht 19 Grenoble 52: Bernard Jackman returned to Connacht with his Grenoble troops and blitzed the westerners for eight tries at the Sportsground. 

FIVE tries, four of them deliciously created, produced the all-important bonus point for Munster in the somewhat surreal surroundings of Thomond Park yesterday.

France 26 Ireland 8