Munter 6 Leicester 13:The bottom line is Leicester physically beat Munster up at Thomond Park on Saturday, and it took a lot of hard swallowing. Unrelentingly, unerringly and unforgivingly, the Tigers gave a tacit lesson in how to take on Munster.

Viewed from abroad, this was one of the most seismic wins in the history of the Heineken European Cup, and it brooked no argument.

Attacking Munster's scrum and lineout from first to last, Leicester never gave the home side the kind of platform they've built up in each and every one of their previous 26 European Cup wins at their Limerick citadel.

Some things remain carved in stone and as was seen in Gloucester on Friday, the higher the standard, the more fundamental commanding one's own setpieces becomes.

In four separate phases of the match, Munster encamped on the Leicester line and went to their pack and their set-pieces. On previous occasions, they'd have come away with a score every time, or at least once. Never have they come away as empty-handed as they did here.

First, nearing the half-hour, in what would be a recurring theme, Paul O'Connell couldn't gather in Frankie Sheahan's throw, Donncha O'Callaghan gathering but knocking on in contact. On 35 minutes, they came knocking again, and arguably there should at least have been a reset put-in when Munster scrummed straight whereas Leicester broke the bind in wheeling around before O'Connell was penalised by the headmasterly Joël Jutge.

The damage having been done with the wind, Munster were living off rare sorties into the breeze after the interval. Still, it seemed their brave resilience had brought a lifeline when, cometh the hour, Denis Leamy, Marcus Horan and Tomás O'Leary gave them a head of steam off Peter Stringer's clever quick tap.

In what was assuredly the talk of the town on Saturday night, Munster perhaps became a little carried away when eschewing a three-pointer in front of the posts by opting for a scrum.

Rarely can a Munster back row have generated so little momentum. Backrow moves off the scrum had hardly been an option all day, and when Julian White and co shunted them off their own ball, the game was effectively up.

Not being wise after the event, but in a low-scoring game, at 6-8, taking the points appeared a much wiser option. The flow of psychic energy would have been with Munster. They would have led for the first time in the match.

At the very least, it would have been interesting, but we'll never know now. It would have been a bit of a steal, but it wouldn't have been the first.

Calm and composed, assured in everything they were doing, Leicester's bigger three-quarter line ran hard and straight, and in general they bossed the collisions, charging at Ronan O'Gara's channel. Nullifying Stringer, forcing O'Gara on to the back foot, they closed down the space far quicker in defence than a comparatively passive Munster. It was reminiscent of Wasps' brilliant semi-final three seasons ago, though not as dynamic.

All the pre-match fears came to pass, not least the absence of Trevor Halstead's sheer physicality. His loss denied Munster an attacking reference point, a source of go-forward midfield ball, which was compounded by the relatively poor quality of Munster's possession and Leicester's rush defence.

Ditto Alan Quinlan, of course, and this was compounded by the decision to accommodate Mick O'Driscoll in an ill-balanced back row. O'Driscoll, in mitigation, is a lock; he is not a flanker.

This isn't the first time Munster have overemphasised the importance of specialist lineout options; nor are they the first or last team to do so.

Only when Anthony Foley and Jerry Flannery were inevitably and belatedly introduced did Munster look like they were operating at something close to full throttle. Flannery's less-orthodox ball carrying and mobility and Foley's straight running and close-in presence gave their pack play some ballast.

Not by coincidence, Denis Leamy and David Wallace came on to the ball more too.

Teams have come after Munster's lineout this season, and as Leicester showed in Welford Road, few teams in Europe are better equipped to do this than the Tigers. Yet they didn't have to resort to playing an additional lock in the back row here, whereas Munster's decision to do so deprived them of Foley's leadership, and for a game such as this one even wonders how this affected his team-mates mentally.

And lest we forget, they had a mighty fine lineout when selectively using one of a Leamy-Foley-Wallace back row last season en route to conquering Europe.

As that campaign and this game also showed, far more important is the accuracy of the throw along with the timing and variety of the options.

Added to the memory of Gloucester's greater impact off the bench the previous evening, when Munster also lost John Kelly, they looked a little skeletal.

O'Leary will be distraught for missing his tackle on Ollie Smith for Leicester's match-clinching second try, yet the score was coming and lest we forget, O'Leary is a scrumhalf playing on the wing.

Overall, though, the hope lingers that deep down Munster didn't have their European lives on the line the way Leicester did.

History has shown us home advantage in the last eight of this competition is huge but while it's all well and good being motivated by that, it's still not do or die. It's not the essence of Munster.

The rider to that, of course, is they've lost at Thomond Park, they've lost the most mystical thing about them. And Leicester gave a tacit lesson in how to do it.

Munster's rivals won't have been the only ones to notice this. Ireland's forthcoming opponents will have observed it too.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 4 mins: Humphreys pen 0-3; 20: O'Gara pen 3-3; 23: Murphy try 3-8; 40(+4): O'Gara pen 6-8 (half-time 6-8); 67: Smith try 6-13.

MUNSTER: S Payne; J Kelly, B Murphy, L Mafi, I Dowling; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell (capt); M O'Driscoll, D Wallace, D Leamy. Replacements: T O'Leary for Kelly (22 mins), J Flannery for Sheahan, A Foley for O'Driscoll (both 49 mins); J Coughlan for Foley (84 mins). Not used: F Pucciariello, J Manning, C Cullen.

LEICESTER TIGERS: G Murphy; S Rabeni, O Smith, D Hipkiss, A Tuilagi; I Humphreys, H Ellis; M Castrogiovanni, G Chuter, J White; L Cullen, L Deacon; L Moody, S Jennings, M Corry (capt). Replacements: M Ayerza for Castrogiovanni (67 mins), L Lloyd for Hipkiss (73 mins), S Vesty for Tuilagi (79 mins). Not used: J Buckland, B Kay, J Crane, F Murphy.

Referee: Joël Jutge (France).