Munster remain on a roll

Munster 38 Swansea 27

"Don't know about that," he said. "We believe everyone in this Munster squad is challenging for places on the side and there is no reason why some of the guys cannot come through."

While some of the squad are in Siberia preparing for a World Cup qualifier with Russia, Munster were in Musgrave Park.

However, they were never in danger of losing this match, having built up a 24-3 lead early in the second half.

O'Driscoll, who destroyed Swansea out of touch, wasn't totally happy. "When you get yourself into that position you need to be ruthless. We sat back and let them come back at us, play a bit and score tries in the end.'' The game had barely started before Arwel Thomas dropped a goal to give Swansea the lead. Munster responded quickly and Jeremy Staunton knocked over penalty goals in the seventh and 10th minutes of the game.

But it was never easy because of Swansea's aggression going forward. The Munster defence had to be at their best just afterwards and then they broke away from defence and the full back added to the Munster score with his third penalty for a ruck infringement.

Midway through the half and after a magnificent Munster attack, Staunton was given the simple chance to convert a penalty from 15 yards and did not disappoint to put Munster into a 12-3 lead.

Munster stormed forward with the opening try of the game from Mossie Lawlor three minutes before the break. It came after a superb passage of play with a brilliant inter-passage of play between backs and forwards. The major contributions came from O'Driscoll, Mick Galwey and Jim Williams in the pack, while Mike Prendergast, Killian Keane and particularly Jason Holland played huge roles. Holland put Lawlor away with a magnificently flighted pass for the try.

Dominic Crotty entered the scoring books early in the second half when he intercepted a pass deep inside his 22. Crotty raced away down the right wing and then cut inside fullback Shaun Payne to grab Munster's second try.

Staunton failed to convert but then ignited another Munster attack that ended with Crotty scoring in the corner, courtesy of Jason Holland, Williams and Mike Mullins.

Staunton hit the upright with the conversion but it dropped over the bar to push Munster ahead 31-3.

Thomas did manage to get in for a try 15 minutes from the end and converted that himself but it was all a bit too late to mount anything like a serious challenge. Steve Winn added

another try to narrow the gap but Munster got their bonus point when Mike Prendergast slid over for a try that Staunton converted for a 38-15 lead.

Munster will be disappointed with the finish when they conceded two tries in injury time. One came from Colin Charvis-gasp try.

MUNSTER: J Staunton, D Crotty, M Mullins, J Holland, M Lawlor, K Keane, M Prendergast, S Kerr, F Sheahan, R Laffan, M Galwey, M O'Driscoll, E Halvey, J Williams (captain), D Leamy. Replacements: W O'Kelly for Kerr (60, injured), C McMahon for Leamy, J O'Neill for Lawlor (both 70), D Malone for Prendergast, T Hogan for O'Driscoll (both 78), C Mahony for Mullins (82).

SWANSEA: S Payne, G Henson, M Taylor, S Winn, M Robinson, A Thomas, S Cordingly, D Morris, G Jenkins. B Evans, J Slade, J Griffiths, R Jenkins, J Thomas, C Charvis. Replacements: B Balshen for Jenkins (37), A Farley for Griffiths (40), J Bater for Robinson, J Vaughton for Thomas, R Francis for Jenkins (all 70), D Sawsey for Evans, R Jones for Cordingly (both 79).

Referee: R Dickson (Scotland).