ONCE AGAIN Tony McGahan’s bravery in selection has been rewarded. The Munster coach would have raised many eyebrows by opting for more youthful players over more experienced ones. The likes of Donnacha Ryan, Peter O’Mahony and Conor Murray delivered in spades, though so too did Donncha O’Callaghan, Denis Leamy and Tomás O’Leary off the bench, not to mention the 100-capper John Hayes.

It can’t be easy coaching this lot at the best of times, never mind in a clear period of transition, but though McGahan looked utterly drained even an hour after their latest act of ridiculous escapology, he quickly pushed any plaudits towards his on-field lieutenants.

“The win was really moulded by the senior players who contributed during the week, especially Paul (O’Connell) as captain, the way they’ve really taken over since they’ve come back from the World Cup. They’ve had a real desire for this group to do well this year.

“It’s not really about words,” he explained. “It’s about actions and the way they present themselves with the drive they put in individually about leading and it always brings the group along with them.”

Cometh the hour, cometh you know who.

“The plaudits, where do you stop?” smiled McGahan. “It was an amazing kick at the end of 80 minutes in what was a fast-paced game, to get yourself in position when the other 14 lads had done the work and then put your hand up to take it. I think we’ve seen other 10s push themselves out of that position but he put his hand up and said he wanted to do it and it was one of the sweetest strikes we’ve seen for a long time.”

“You really want a strong mental conviction and a strong mental toughness to do that and he’s been exactly like that throughout his whole career and none more so than tonight.”

The experience gleaned by the younger elements of the squad and to have sampled from Munster’s vast well of resilience is invaluable.

“It’s massive,” agreed McGahan. “It’s the stuff that can’t put in on the training pitch, you can’t put in their mind, you need to experience those and put it away. You get good experiences and you get bad experiences and some of those guys have a little bit of both in their short careers but they and the senior players pulled it in this evening.

“We wouldn’t put anyone on the field who wasn’t able to do the job and I think those young men this evening did that.”

That said, quickly drawing on the memory of last season, the pressure hasn’t been especially eased for this week’s visit to Castres. “Obviously we’d want to be going there with a result but I think there’s pressure at Munster every week – that’s just the way it is. But I think you know really if you want to get anywhere in the competition we found out last year you’ve got to get wins and you’ve got to gather them as quickly as possible.”

Once again, English visitors made off into the night feeling like they’d been mugged, and shaking their heads at what they perceive as the injustice of it all. So it was that Jim Mallinder bemoaned Nigel Owens’ failure not to reward their scrum supremacy more (he might have had a point); why their late attempt to run down the clock resulted in them being “pinged” (they weren’t, Owens finally and correctly awarding a crucial scrum turnover when the maul stalled yet again) and in that compelling 41-phase drive, “there seemed to be a lot of bodies coming in the wrong side.”

And so it went on, and on . . . “We’re still in the competition, to come here and get a point is not the end of the world but we had a very good chance of winning today, we knew that before the game and we still think that now, and I think, if it wasn’t for a few refereeing decisions we would have won.”

There was some, belated acknowledgement of their opposition and the venue.

“They’ve changed personnel a little bit but they’re still a competitive outfit, very competitive at the breakdown, they’re very strong in the driving maul and I guess with O’Gara pulling the strings at half back, they can still win close games like that.

“We don’t get sick, though, of coming to Limerick; we love coming here, it’s a fantastic rugby ground and we enjoy it, the intimidating atmosphere – but we’re frustrated because, unlike the previous two games when I suppose we came second, we will look at this game and actually think we probably should have come first.”