Forward power key to Reds revival

SAY what you will about Munster, but for their supporters they are the gift that keeps on giving.

This was supposed to be the season that chickens came home to roost and turkeys were prepared for a grisly end as the province continued the slide into European oblivion that began with last term’s failure to reach the Heineken Cup knockout stages.

That campaign was marked by wretched away form, including a pre-Christmas defeat at Ospreys that highlighted Munster’s decline in forward power. This weekend in Wales, they notched up their second victory on the road in the competition and did it with all the forward dominance of old.