New Zealand coach Graham Henry will take his side to Wales with the deafening din of Thomond Park still ringing in their ears after another memorable night in Limerick. Munster came agonisingly close to recording a shock victory before succumbing to a 18-16 defeat.

Almost 30 years to the day that Munster stunned the All Blacks 12-0 at the same venue, the home side led 16-13 with just four minutes remaining. But the European champions, short of 10 their first-choice players due to Ireland's match against Argentina this weekend, conceded a 76th-minute try to Joe Rokocoko that got the tourists out of jail.

Henry said: "Our team are young guys and it was a good experience for them, very good for their rugby development. To be under that kind of pressure (and win) is immense for them.

"They will have learned a lot playing in that kind of atmosphere. I haven't been in an atmosphere like that very often."

A capacity crowd of 26,500 thronged the Thomond Park stands and terraces to witness this much-anticipated match and the pre-match build-up was worth the ticket price alone.

Munster included four New Zealanders in their squad and Doug Howlett, Rua Tipoki, Lifeimi Mafi and Jeremy Manning threw down the gauntlet by performing their own four-man haka before the All Blacks could respond.

"It shows the spirit of the Munster team and the geographic area it represents. It was a nice to have a win but I think the occasion was more important," Henry admitted.

"I think we played a lot of the rugby. We tried to be constructive most of the time. It was a very young inexperienced All Black side. It was one of those games where we just had to hang in and hope we could score a winning try. But we had opportunities."
 
Meanwhile, New Zealand number eight Liam Messam was full of praise for the 'awesome' Thomond Park experience, which saw the home fans in full voice throughout.

The Chiefs forward picked up the man-of-the-match award, crowning his 80-minute performance with some inspirational carries in the second half.

Speaking afterwards, the 24-year-old said: "It was an awesome experience just to be a part of it and it's great to have got the final try to sneak a win at the end.

"The crowd were great, they were really loud all through the game. It was great for us to experience an atmosphere like that."