Anthony Foley’s faith in his players rewarded

When Ulster escaped punishment for a knock-on and offside infringement prior to their try at Kingspan Park, Munster coach Anthony Foley must have feared the worst for his under pressure and luckless side.

However, to the huge credit of a group deprived of the services of almost half their first choice selection (among the absentees were Lions Simon Zebo, Keith Earls and Conor Murray, along with Donnacha Ryan, James Cronin, Peter O’Mahony and Andrew Conway), Munster set about putting things right.

Even if they spent much of the first half in their own territory, they committed themselves so powerfully and spiritedly, that they left Belfast with the kind of result that sends them into three successive European engagements with confidence hugely renewed after a miserable December.