Munster keep their sights on Ospreys

Munster 21 Ulster 15

"It's very important that we keep the pressure on the Ospreys," said Paul Burke afterwards. "We set out what we wanted to do, created a lot of opportunities. We broke the line a couple of times and I thought the try we got just before the break was the best we scored all season. Tonight was all about getting the points, and it's a pity we couldn't get the bonus point, but a win is a win."

This victory will give the Munster team a lot of confidence going into their Heineken Cup match with performances of Alan Quinlan and Frank Murphy the stand-out features of the night.

Frank Murphy was very quickly settling into his new half-back partnership with the experienced Paul Burke, their partnership very much blossoming in a splendid first half from the Munster men.

Though Burke had the option of a penalty inside the halfway line within a minute, he chose to play for touch but did convert a penalty after five minutes when Ulster were deemed to have been offside in a Munster attack.

Munster's back-row were having a storming battle with their Ulster counterparts, and unusually for Jim Williams, he proved the culprit in conceding the opening try.

A garryowen from the exciting Tommy Bowe was totally misread by Williams on his 22 and when it bounced, Bowe opportunistically followed up to collect and run in for the touchdown.

Then followed a period of Munster dominance that saw a wonderful exhibition of continuity with backs and forwards interlinking well. Three times Ulster conceded scrums and lost Gary Longwell for continually killing the ball in the ruck in the 14th minute on their 5m line and after proving impenetrable after Munster aimed to burrow over the line. But on the third attempt, and after four quick recycles, Murphy and Burke combined to put John Kelly in the corner. It was a long time coming but credit is due to the hard driving of Jim Williams but equally the tackling of Neil Best, Roger Wilson and Paul Steinmetz was the highlight of this memorable sequence of play.

Though Burke's passing was fluent and crisp, his defensive kicking was far from flawless, twice skewing kicks into touch. Munster, under pressure, conceded a drop-goal, when, after winning their own lineout, two phases of play saw Kieran Campbell find Wallace in the pocket with the latter sweetly striking to level matters.

The game entered a period of stalemate with forwards getting to know each other, though Williams and Wilson were very much prominent in terms of gaining the hard yards.

Ulster struck for their second try in the 35th minute. After a period of pressure five metres from the line, the ball broke out to Wallace who fed Scott Young, and after going to ground, Wilson picked and sped in at the corner. A sublime conversion from Wallace on the right touchline, Munster's response was immediate and fruitful. First Burke converted a straight forward penalty, before Munster then upped the tempo considerably.

Shaun Payne, whose darting runs from the full-back position should see him adequately replace the long term injured Christian Cullen, was prominent in the closing stages and Munster's second try was classic text-book rugby.

The home side really stretched Ulster, moving the ball at pace first right, then left and with their pack producing quick ruck ball, the ball was swept beautifully left, sweet hands from the backs saw the ball fall to Quinlan and then Wallace out-wide, who had very little to beat in going over. That came in the 41st minute in what Alan Gaffney described as "the best try Munster scored in my three years in charge." With Burke's exquisite conversion Munster went in leading 18-15 at the interval.

The second half was a more negative affair, with little continuity and few try-scoring opportunities. Burke had a chance of an early penalty but chose to hit for touch, but Ulster relieved the pressure.

The game entered long periods of stalemate around the middle of park and a feature of this half was Ulster's inability to force any pressure on the Munster line. But credit must go to the home side's strong and disciplined defence.

With Ulster very careless at the breakdown and conceding easy penalties, Burke converted again in the 72nd minute and though missing a convertible chance five minutes later, Munster held on to keep this League interesting for another while.

MUNSTER: S Payne; J Kelly, M Mullins, R Henderson , A Horgan; P Burke, F Murphy; F Roche, J Flannery, G McIlwham; T Bowman, T Hogan; A Quinlan, D Wallace, J Williams (c). Replacements: J Holland for Henderson (62); E McGovern for McIlwham (76).

ULSTER: T Bowe; S Young, S Mallon, P Steinmetz, T Howe; P Wallace, K Campbell; R McCormick, P Shields, R Moore; G Longwell, M McCullough; A Ward, N Best, R Wilson. Replacements: B Young for Moore (52); C Feather for Ward (59); N Brady for Shields (71).

REFEREE: A Ireland (SRU).