Munster - 19 Llanelli - 13: Munster and their returning internationals didn't exactly hit the ground running and they were sucking diesel by the end, but they got there ultimately.
A belated first win of the campaign will help ease concerns over their results thus far and the 8,000 or so who attended will have left a sodden Thomond Park comforted in the knowledge they will assuredly improve.
This was far from vintage Munster stuff, relying almost exclusively on their foot soldiers up front to subdue a Llanelli side that, temporarily or indefinitely, look in decline.
Betraying an understandable lack of cohesion, a host of passes didn't stick, particularly amongst a back line that never quite clicked, and Ronan O'Gara's kicking game was off colour.
Hence, the lineout maul was their primary means of go-forward ball on a day for their warhorses up front. None were more important than Frankie Sheahan, who took on a mountain of ball carrying, and in his own strong, unobtrusive way, John Hayes - both perhaps benefiting from an extra run-out the week before.
Bearing that in mind, Paul O'Connell's ball-carrying, lineout play and workload were immense - and he'll surely only get better - while Denis Leamy handsomely repaid Alan Gaffney's faith in him again with another big game, especially at the breakdown.
"It was an important win," said a relieved Gaffney. "I thought some of our play was very good but we turned over 10 balls in the first half alone, thanks in part to some injudicious kicks which put us under pressure.
"We were a bit rusty. Our patterns and structures were good in parts, but we've quite a lot to work on."
A poor game often wasn't helped by the referee, Malcolm Changleng, who lived up (or down) to the abysmal reputation of Scottish referees in general.
Unsurprisingly, the opening quarter and more was all about the Munster pack drawing lines in the sand, even without Donncha O'Callaghan, who tweaked a calf muscle in scrummaging practice. Munster opted to kick and chase even from deep and as a result dominated the throw, with O'Connell the main supplier for some meaty drives.
In truth there wasn't much else to the game. Llanelli went wide a few times straight off set-pieces rather than take on Munster around the fringes or up the middle, but hadn't the accuracy of pass or depth to do so with any threat.
There's rarely been a more fitting opening score than Munster's, and that it came 27 minutes in and provided the only try of the first period was also appropriate. Again O'Connell gathered it in, fully 30 metres out, and neither he nor Anthony Foley nor Alan Quinlan was to be seen again at the apex of the drive as other forwards fell off before re-engaging, Quinlan eventually touching down.
With more cohesion and precision, Munster would have pressed home their advantage, all the more so when Llanelli tight-head John Davies was sin-binned for "boring" a second time. Given it was 60 metres from his own line, it seemed a tad harsh.
In any event, O'Gara, who wasn't striking the ball well, missed the ensuing penalty to touch. Ironically, he nailed his next one, just as Davies was returning (though then Sheahan overthrew to the tail).
Munster spent the intervening 10 minutes in their own territory. Quinlan was penalised for not rolling away after bear-hugging Tal Selley - when it was a physical impossibility to do so - and Gareth Bowen kicked the 45-metre penalty via the upright before missing a slightly easier one when Marcus Horan was penalised for boring in against a seven-man scrum on a Munster put-in.
As is often the way with such things hereabouts, a perceived bit of skulduggery by the visitors galvanised the home team and crowd alike. Andy Powell's high hit on O'Connell nearly beheaded the lock - though this was not deemed by the referee as serious as two technical scrummaging offences.
At a stroke, Munster picked up their intensity from the ensuing lineout, taking the ball up hard and straight in a succession of drives. Again, it wasn't always slick, but Foley made a crucial intervention when offering Stringer a good line from deep off a pick-up, and was supported by O'Connell.
From the recycle, Anthony Horgan came across from his wing to take a good line and offload in another for the supporting Cullen to score. O'Gara nailed a difficult conversion and then an even better one after a multi-phase attack - with John Kelly, Sheahan and O'Connell all making good yards before a trademark sidestep and break by Cullen, supported by Horan, led to Stringer putting Leamy over on the blind side from the recycle.
That surge was enough, Munster coughing up a try to Garan Evans when he took an excellent line onto Mike Phillips's well-timed offload after an injudicious chip from outside his own 22 by O'Gara, and Evans returned the compliment to Phillips with a quick-witted pick-up and break off a loose Llanelli scrum in their own half.
Though pressing for a bonus point in injury time, Munster were assuredly grateful to see Mr Changleng wrongly adjudge a forward pass from Cullen to Foley and make his final shrill blast of the day.
SCORING SEQUENCE - 27 mins: Quinlan try 5-0; 38 mins: Bowen pen 5-3; (half-time 5-3); 48 mins: Cullen try, O'Gara con 12-3; 66 mins: Leamy try, O'Gara con 19-3; 69 mins: Evans try 19-8; 80 mins: Phillips try 19-13.
MUNSTER: C Cullen; J Kelly, M Mullins, R Henderson, A Horgan; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes, T Hogan, P O'Connell, A Quinlan, A Foley, D Leamy. Replacements: J Storey for Henderson (55 mins), D Wallace for Quinlan (62 mins), T Bowman for Hogan (80 mins).
LLANELLI SCARLETS: G Evans; A Havili, M Watkins, M Taylor, T Selley; G Bowen, M Phillips; I Thomas, M Rees, J Davies, V Cooper, A Jones, S Easterby (capt), A Powell, G Thomas. Replacements: D Peel for Watkins (18 mins), C Wyatt for A Jones (49 mins), P John for Powell (33-40 mins) and for Davies (66 mins), A Thomas for Bowen (62 mins). Sin-binned: Davies (30-40 mins).
Referee: Malcolm Changleng (SRU).
