Munster must learn from Leinster’s mistakes to crack mighty Toulon

A fairytale finish to what has been an amazing season for Irish rugby was blown off course on a weekend from which Munster are the sole survivor on the European front.

Given that Ulster and Leinster were more fancied to make the last four, Munster’s achievement is even more noteworthy even if the northern province would almost certainly have prevailed had Jared Payne seen yellow instead of red for his clumsy midair collision with Alex Goode.

Toulouse had turned a corner recently as evidenced by their 27-27 draw away to Stade Francais and more pointedly their narrow 32-28 defeat away to Toulon before travelling to Limerick. Given the quality of Toulon’s well-merited win over Leinster on Sunday, Munster should examine how Toulouse ran the Heineken Cup champions so close in that game as a starting point to upsetting the odds, with Toulon already installed as overwhelming favourites for the semi-final.