No bonus Munster's only minus
The visitors dominated the match, took charge of the scoreboard and got the result, if not the bonus point their efforts deserved.
Sale Sharks remain in control of the group, but Munster's experienced battlers are still in charge of their own destiny. If they continue winning, the final game against Sale in January promises to be something really special. Remember Gloucester in 2003?
This win was carved less out of finesse than brute force, and the worry is that Munster do not appear to have game-breakers in the back division to make the real difference.
Given the territorial advantage they enjoyed, two tries should have been turned into the four required to gain a much needed bonus point, yet the win was the most important thing, as highlighted by coach Declan Kidney.
"We controlled possession, and by doing so we were able to control the game, stopping them from scoring. We had to play with a bit of structure; it wasn't the way we necessarily wanted to play, but you don't give the initiative to a team like Gwent by engaging in a loose-type game.
"It was out of respect for them that we played the way we did, because they are capable of running in tries if given the chance."
Experience, said Newport coach Paul Turner, was the key. "As I suspected, their number ten (Ronan O'Gara) put them in the right positions and they were a little bit too smart for us in the contact areas.
"Games like this are a step-up for some of our younger players; there was a test-match feel to it, and we just weren't good enough to adopt."
Turner backed Munster to slug it out with Sale to the bitter end of the group. "Some of their fans seem disappointed that they didn't gain a bonus point, but they came here to win and, from the team's point of view that was more important than anything else."
Munster dominated out of touch and snaffled five of Newport's throws. For that, huge credit must go to the awareness and ability of Mick O'Driscoll and Donncha O'Callaghan and, of course, to chief lifter John Hayes.
Turner said: "We knew we were going to face a big test in the line outs. Munster have one of the best, if not the best, line outs in Europe and that's even without (Paul) O'Connell and (Frank) Sheahan. Yes, it was a bit of a disaster and there were times during the game when perhaps we could have avoided going there. It was a big factor in the outcome."
Another key battle took place between rival captains Michael Owen and Anthony Foley and, because of the way the game was played, Turner believes Foley had the edge.
"That was always going to be an interesting duel. It involved two different styles; one when we started to open up the field a little, while Foley was very direct and robust. We ran up against a very talented Munster back row trio. Their off-loading, particularly in the first half, had us in all sorts of trouble and I thought David Wallace was outstanding," he said.
Munster took complete control of that opening half, struggling slightly only in the scrums; that perhaps the result of a heavy knock taken by O'Driscoll in the opening seconds.
Munster slowly picked off the scores and built up a 17 points lead. Mossie Lawlor dropped a 10th minute goal, O'Gara tacked on a penalty and drop goal before Denis Leamy charged over for a try. O'Gara got a second penalty before Warlow's late response.
Nothing much changed in the second half, though they did have to fight for the vital score midway through the period - another battering ram effort, this time from Marcus Horan. O'Gara converted and Newport were left to settle for an 87th minute consolation try from Gareth Chapman.
With next week's fixture in mind, Kidney pointed to an interesting historical statistic: "Less than 50 per cent of back-to-back fixtures are won by the same team."
And, despite Munster's impeccable record at Thomond Park, he warned: "They will have learned a lot more about us than we did about them because we didn't see enough of them to make a full judgement.
He added: "We're only half way through our programme; we're probably in the top 12 to 15 teams of the 24 involved, but our job is to get into the top eight. That really means we have to keep on winning."
: A. Thomas, G. Chapman, *S. Tuipulotu, C. Sweeney, R. Fussell, C. Warlow, G. Cooper, A. Black, S. Jones, R. Thomas, I. Gough, P. Sidoli, A. Hall, M. Owen, J. Ringer.
: L.Charteris for Sidoli, G. Robinson for Thomas (both 60), J. Bryant for Tuipulotu (injured, 66), G. Baber for Cooper (74), D. Maddocks for Black (83).
: M. Lawlor, J. Kelly, G. Connolly, T. Halstead, A. Horgan, R. O'Gara, P. Stringer, M. Horan, J. Flannery, J. Hayes, D. O'Callaghan, M. O'Driscoll, D. Leamy, A. Foley, D. Wallace.
: *B. Murphy for Connolly (76), F. Roche for Horan, D. Fogarty for Flannery, T. Hogan for O'Callaghan, S. Keogh for Wallace, T. O'Leary for Foley, J. Manning for O'Gara (all 83)
: T. Spreadbury (England)
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