Kicking king saves Munster

Munster 24 Perpignan 23

In the end, all three came up with the right response last night but it was only by a single point that Perpignan, the scorers of the game’s only three tries, were vanquished. It was far from an impressive performance, and given that the French champions scored the game’s three tries and the penalty count was a massive 17-5 in Munster’s favour, the French are entitled to feel hard done by.

They will be thirsting for revenge, and a referee other than Englishman Wayne Barnes, when the sides meet again at Stade Aime Giral tomorrow week. For now, however, Munster remain on top of Pool One of the Heineken Cup and can only hope that the intervening eight days will enable them to discover the cohesion and composure in their play that was lacking last night.