RUGBY / Heineken Cup / Munster 30 Newport Gwent 18: Twelve minutes from the end, Irish rugby was facing down the barrel of Black Saturday, a triple whammy for the provinces in the Heineken European Cup for the delectation of television viewers.
But in such a time of crisis you'd never back against Munster hereabouts; and roared on by a full house that once more was with them all the way, and steadied by the tried and trusted combination of Ronan O'Gara's unerring boot and the lineout maul, they found their way home.
None of this should ever be taken for granted, much less rejected as a cause for celebration.
"It was just a matter of gathering our composure," said Anthony Foley afterwards, "and Rog kicked a couple of good penalties, we got over for a try and suddenly we were thinking of a bonus point with four minutes to go. We didn't get it but we're not too upset about that."
Yet the nagging suspicion remains that the failure to obtain bonus points in the two wins over the Dragons will cost them dearly. In part, this is to do as much with the scorching pace being set by Sale as with any of their own failings. And the need to obtain a maximum return here, after the criticisms for not doing so the previous week, perhaps contributed to their failure in that context.
As ever, perhaps more than ever, Munster have to work so hard for their tries. Of their 11 tries in four cup games to date - liberally dispersed amongst 10 players - eight have been scored by forwards. Aside from the trademark lineout-maul try conjured by the pack for Jerry Flannery entering the 80th minute to seal the victory, fittingly there were tries also for Mick O'Driscoll and Foley - remarkably, the latter's 21st in the cup.
O'Driscoll's was carved out by David Wallace, "man of the match" for the second week running and possibly edging out Foley, who after his enforced November hiatus is returning to his imperious best.
Not alone did they stand out with virtually every Munster forward alongside a typically fired up and pacy Marcus Horan, O'Driscoll and Donncha O'Callaghan, but Wallace and Foley scaled heights for those tries that were beyond the scope of a distinctly limited, one-paced back line.
Although the Dragons were predictably much more competitive in the lineout, pouring through on Peter Stringer and even nicking three successive Flannery throws in the second half, there was still a good supply of quality ball and an error-free, quickfire and lengthy service from Stringer, who also cleverly probed the blindside for the two aforementioned tries.
But in his fourth cup tie against Munster in successive seasons, the former Harlequins and current Dragons coach, Paul Turner, employed a rush defence inside and outside O'Gara to not only curtail his kicking range, as he admitted, but affect his distribution to his midfield - one lovely, if unsupported, attacking line by Trevor Halstead apart.
Wallace initially seemed to lose contact with O'Driscoll when veering back inside, but having used his footwork and strength to beat three men he straightened and floated a left-to-right pass across his body for O'Driscoll - who had held his line - to score in the corner.
Throw in a searing early break by Wallace when employed as a strike runner in midfield, some excellent tackling, one vital steal off the deck and offload in defence and this seemed close to vintage Wallace. The joke doing the rounds at Thomond Park is that they're having a whip round to buy Eddie O'Sullivan a book for Christmas from the Where's Wally? series.
What penetration there was usually came when Wallace or Horan was in the line, while Foley's blindside grubber, gather and touchdown from Flannery's transfer provided a moment of opportunism and vision again beyond any of his backs.
Undoubtedly Munster were looking to offload the ball in the tackle, even off the deck, more than is their norm, but having motored impressively into a first-quarter 10-0 lead, they lost their way amid a plethora of handling errors. There were at least seven by the break, mostly the result of forcing the pass, which invited the Dragons back into the game.
"We tried to force the game in the first half," admitted Foley. "Passes weren't going to hand and we compounded error upon error, and we spoke at half-time about cherishing possession and bringing them through phases."
The Dragons' own lineout propelled them back to 10-8 by the interval, whereupon Turner immediately unloaded a heavyweight bench.
After Foley's opportunism, he and the onfield brains trust went for the jugular after 52 minutes, declining a penalty 30 metres out in front of the posts at 17-8, but his own knock-on let the Dragons wriggle free.
They conjured perhaps the try of the season at the venue this season from deep, Gareth Cooper and Jon Bryant probing an unprotected blindside off a twisted scrum and as Anthony Horgan, already lying too deep, backed off, they kept the ball in hand for Michael Owen to fling a monstrous pass infield for the pacy Kevin Morgan to score.
To Munster's credit yet again in a tense endgame, they calmly steered their way to a 23rd consecutive victory at their Limerick fortress as the Dragons realised the magnitude of what they might achieve. O'Gara, as ever, came good with three sweetly struck kicks for a six-from-six, 15-point haul to take the competition's all-time leading scorer to within a three-pointer of 700, and then the pack rolled their sleeves up once more.
"It was certainly topsy-turvy and we're nothing if not entertaining," ventured Declan Kidney. And some good things remain constant too.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 8 mins: O'Gara pen 3-0; 17: O'Driscoll try, O'Gara con 10-0; 29: Jones try 10-5; 40 (+4): Sweeney pen 10-8 (half-time 10-8); 48: Foley try, O'Gara con 17-8; 64: Sweeney pen 17-11; 66: Morgan try, Sweeney con 17-18; 70: O'Gara pen 20-18; 73: O'Gara pen 23-18; 80: Flannery try, O'Gara con 30-18.
MUNSTER: S Payne; J Kelly, G Connolly, T Halstead, A Horgan; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll; D Leamy, D Wallace, A Foley (capt). Replacements: B Murphy for Halstead (72 mins). Not used: D Fogarty, F Pucciariello, T Hogan, S Keogh, T O'Leary, J Manning. Sinbinned: Horan (75 mins).
DRAGONS: A Thomas; G Chapman, H Luscombe, J Bryant, R Fussell; C Sweeney, G Baber; A Black, S Jones, G Robinson; I Gough, L Charteris; R Oakley, J Ringer, R Bryan (capt). Replacements: M Owen for Bryan, K Morgan for Thomas (both half-time), R Thomas for Robinson (54 mins), G Cooper for Baber (60 mins), D Maddocks for Black, P Sidoli for Gough (both 63 mins). Not used: C Warlow. Sinbinned: Jones (75 mins).
Referee: Chris White (England).
