It mightn't have seemed like a classic, but, as Anthony Foley said afterwards, Munster were brilliant in patches. Then again that had to be for this was a damned tough encounter. Biarritz - brave, big and a bit brutish - took some beating and only were by a trademark, compelling all-round second-half performance.

You left Thomond Park relieved that Munster had reached another semi-final, relieved amongst other things that the rainy forecast was wrong (those good old Irish weather forecasts) on a brilliantly sunny day, and grateful that Munster had again dug deep.

Great guttural support though there was - the opening ovation as they entered the Thomond bear-pit was as loud as any here before - there seemed even a hint of trepidation in the ground. For long stretches of the first half, Munster struggled to contain the Biarritz maul, which then located a couple of creaks out wide in the Munster defence, and then again at the death. The three minutes in which Biarritz suddenly had come to within a score of a last-ditch mugging were excruciating.

Yet, despite Biarritz scoring four tries to three, there was no arguing that Munster deserved their place in the last four, especially on the back of one of those high-octane, high-tempo second periods that are almost the norm for them but are none the worse to watch for that.

All the players you wanted to have big games did. Anthony Foley will surely never play as well and score three tries without obtaining the man-of-the-match, though its recipient, Alan Quinlan, had a mighty game. Peter Clohessy was "up" for this one, John Hayes was his usual brick wall in defence and Frankie Sheahan completed a host of ball carries.

The trump card, outside of Foley, was Ronan O'Gara - as usual. It's almost tempting to take these cool-as-cucumber performances for granted. Not alone unerring in his place-kicking, where he landed all seven penalties and one of three touchline conversions, his lengthy line-kicking has improved and his capacity for making the right decision amid the maelstrom says buckets for his temperament.

As expected, the driving maul was Biarritz's most potent weapon, but more ominously the visitors wasted little time in driving home the point. It wasn't just that they made big yards, but they also sucked in the numbers, giving them space out wide which they used to telling effect with big runs by Scottish winger Stuart Legg, which earned tries for the supporting Christophe Milheres and himself. Each time it put Biarritz ahead - first after O'Gara's opening penalty and then after Foley's opening try.

Pressure defence and a big hit by Hayes earned a turnover which, despite pressurised scrum ball that O'Gara had to gather behind the gain-line, was turned into another three-pointer by the out-half when Biarritz "fringed". Almost immediately Quinlan did likewise for Botica to make it 15-11.

Typical of a tit-for-tat half, a penetrating pick-up off the base of a better scrum by Foley and good driving support by David Wallace was the prelude to an intense bout of Munster pressure which culminated in an O'Gara penalty for offside. The lead then changed hands for a fourth time when a tetchy Philippe Bernat-Salles reacted to O'Gara winning the leap to one of several perfectly cooked up-and-unders, the winger's "afters" enabling O'Gara to leave it 17-15 at the break.

It might have been more had Sebastien Bonetti not ended Anthony Horgan's weaving run for the line.

After discernible complaints from Mick Galwey and later Alan Quinlan about eye-gouging, Munster coach Declan Kidney then engaged Ed Morrison as the referee went to the dressing-room.

More pertinent still was whatever he said to his players. As usual, Munster were an improved outfit immediately after the restart. Foley's second try was followed by a stunning conversion from the right touchline by O'Gara, who soon added another penalty. Munster were rampant, Clohessy making one galvanising surge as Munster maintained their high tempo.

Biarritz's Denis Avril was then binned, albeit harshly for mildly swinging his hand at David Wallace, who looked offside at the fringe of another maul. When it comes to turning the screw against outnumbered opponents, Munster are as ruthless as they come and Foley's third try eased them further ahead.

It helped, too, that Biarritz were resorting to catch-up rugby, running the ball across their line with 14 men when just two scores down with 20 minutes to go. Privately Munster will assuredly admit they took their foot off as another soft try was conceded when Bonnet intercepted Galwey's offload 50 metres out. Though O'Gara's sixth penalty gave them more breathing space, a compelling sequence of mauls by Biarritz earned a try for Christophe Milheres which, you just knew, Botica would convert from the touchline.

Biarritz threatened a break-out matchwinner, as only French teams can, before some needless foul play by Marc Lievremont instead enabled O'Gara to unerringly provide the cushion of a two-score lead from 47 metres.

With that Thomond heaved a collective sigh of relief.

Scoring sequence

4 mins: O'Gara penalty - 3-0 7 mins: Legg try, Botica conversion - 3-7 11 mins: Foley try - 8-7 15 mins: Legg try - 8-12 19 mins: O'Gara penalty - 11-12 22 mins: Botica penalty - 11-15 26 mins: O'Gara penalty - 14-15 36 mins: O'Gara penalty - 17-15

Half-time 17-15

47 mins: Foley try, O'Gara conversion - 24-15 53 mins: O'Gara penalty - 27-15 65 mins: Foley try - 32-15 71 mins: Bonnet try, Botica conversion - 32-22 74 mins: O'Gara penalty - 35-22 79 mins: Milheres try, Botica conversion - 35-29 82 mins: O'Gara pen - 38-29

Full-time 38-29

Munster: D Crotty; J Kelly, M Mullins, J Holland, A Horgan; R O'Gara, P Stringer; P Clohessy, F Sheahan, J Hayes, M Galwey, J Langford, A Quinlan, A Foley, D Wallace. Replacements - none.

Biarritz: S Bonetti; P Bernat-Salles, P BidaBe, N Couttet, S legg; F Botica, S Bonnet; E Menieu, J-M Gonzalez (capt), D Avril, J-P Versailles, O Roumat, S Betsen, O Nauroy, C Milheres. Replacements - T Lievremont for Roumat (48 mins), M Lefevre for Versailles (53 mins), M Irazoqui for Zmilheres (61-69 mins), M Lievremont for Betsen (66 mins), B Daguerre for Couttet (74 mins), M Fitzgerald for Menieu (77 mins).

Referee: Ed Morrison (England).