It fizzled out a bit in the end, and there were understandably plenty of mistakes along the way, but there were enough moments of invention and high-quality tries to signal the ushering in of a more daring Munster module this season under Alan Gaffney.
In truth they'll have to be judged on stiffer opposition than Ebbw Vale, with all due respect to the hard-pressed Welsh club. Though adept at clever lineout variations and as well drilled as you'd expect from a side coached by Mike Ruddock, they were somewhat lightweight physically and lacked individual flair.
After a bright first half Munster lost their way and played very fitfully after the break. Attempting to play a riskier handling game errors abounded and became more frequent, Munster losing their shape a little when with more patience they'd have won by more. Conceding two softish tries will also irk them greatly.
"Realistically we can't be very happy with that performance," said Jim Williams after his first outing as captain. "There were certain aspects of our play that we did well but we tried to force the pass a bit too much. We're trying to expand the game a bit more, to give us a few more options but we got caught in bad body positions and that's something we're going to have to work on."
Looser than normal, nonetheless for all Williams's exacting standards it was an entertaining and enterprising performance. When they clicked, some of the handling, support and running lines thrilled the crown.
Williams led from the front, putting in a host of big hits, before fading a bit, Dominic Malone gave note of better to come, Mike Mullins was voraciously hungry for work and Jeremy Staunton added some touches of class from full back, being heavily involved in four of the seven tries, while no one caught the mood more than John O'Neill, unveiling a scarcely seen repertoire of deft distribution.
Scoreless last week, Ruddock clearly sent Ebbe Vale out to put points, any points, on the board as quickly as possible. So debutant outhalf Mark Meenan, of Irish extraction, knocked over a drop goal after 41 seconds.
However, evidence of the more daring Munster mindset took only 11 minutes to manifest itself. Mossie Lawlor scampered up the line from James Blaney's quick throw and exchanged passes with Staunton to score a try in the corner from inside halfway.
A well-controlled, multi-phase attack - initiated in turn by Williams and Mick Galwey off a scrum on halfway, before Staunton made further inroads - culminated in O'Neill crashing over from Malone's pass.
A clearer indication of Munster's adventurous spirit was Jason Holland audaciously feinting to kick from inside his own half, Mick O'Driscoll handling twice but Mullins's final pass was fractionally forward. In any case, after Galwey muscularly stole an Ebbw Vale line, Staunton hit the line positively again to put Mullins over.
He also hit a couple of conversions and a penalty before a second Meenan drop-goal. Mullins and O'Neill chased up the ensuing Killian Keane restart and O'Neill's deft reverse pass drew the initial gasp, before the ball was recycled for Alan Quinlan to use Lawlor as a decoy.
A rash of yellow cards left Munster with a 14-13 advantage on the restart. They used the space with a set move off a lineout, Keane working a couple of decoy runners for Mullins to rumble over. Despite a dodgy penalty try to Ebbw Vale, Lawlor gobbled up a loose ball at pace, broke a tackle and found Williams in support for the skipper to gallop home.
Sleepily conceding a try of ping-pong farce to Will Thomas, Munster had the final say when Mullins and Colm McMahon put them on the front foot and Staunton's long pass sent Holland through.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 1 min: Meenan drop goal 0-3; 11 mins: Lawlor try 5-3; 17 mins: O'Neill try, Staunton con 12-3; 23 mins: Mullins try 17-3; 32 mins: Staunton pen 20-3; 33 mins: Meenan drop goal 20-6; 36 mins: Quinlan try, Staunton con 27-6; 40 mins: Meenan pen 27-9; (half-time 27-9); 42 mins: Mullins try 34-9; 49 mins: penalty try, Meenan con 34-16; 57 mins: Williams try, Staunton con 41-16; 66 mins: Thomas try, Meenan con 41-23; 72 mins: Holland try, Staunton con 48-23.
MUNSTER: J Staunton; J O'Neill, M Mullins, J Holland, M Lawlor; K Keane, D Malone; M Horan, J Blaney, S Kerr, M Galwey, M O'Driscoll, A Quinlan, J Williams (capt), C McMahon. Replacements: M Prendergast for Malone (65 mins), D Crotty for Lawlor (69 mins), J Fogarty for Blaney, D O'Callaghan for Galwey (both 71 mins), D Leamy for McMahon (74 mins), R Laffan for Kerr (76 mins), C Mahony for Mullins (80 mins). Sinbinned: Horan (39-49 mins).
EBBW VALE: R Davies; A Takarangi, M Ridley, R Sharney, M Rowlands; M Meenan, B Shelbourne; A Black (capt), K Crawford, D Jones, R Sidoli, N Edwards, K Tuipuloti, W Thomas, T Morris. Replacements: C Bevan for Crawford, O Booyse for Sidoli (both 42 mins), R Williams for Tuipuloti, S Mitchell for Meenan (both 74 mins). Sinbinned: D Jones (32-42 mins), Rowlands (38-48 mins).
Referee: Tony Spreadbury (England).
