European Cup Pool One/ Munster 31 Sale Sharks 9: It was another red-letter day for Munster rugby. Trying to capture the essence of a triumph that incorporated all the elemental fury of the province's finer days and nights, it seems apposite to recount the parable of the bacon-and-egg breakfast, the moral being the pig's commitment to the venture as against the hen's mere involvement in the process.
Introduce Munster and the Sale Sharks as the principal characters in the tale and it may help to explain what transpired in Limerick on Saturday night.
Sale travelled to Thomond Park as Guinness Premiership pacesetters, a team rippling with Lions and French internationals and slap bang in form.
They had already forced Munster to bend the knee in this season's Heineken European Cup at Edgeley Park and were confident they could become the first team in 23 European matches to emerge victorious at the Limerick citadel.
Unfortunately for the Manchester team, they couldn't walk the walk, unprepared for the sheer physical onslaught that assailed them from referee Joël Jutge's opening whistle.
The intensity and ferocity of the Munster challenge caused their opponents to first blink and then react through the fists of their Argentinian secondrow Ignacio Fernandez-Lobbe. Andrew Sheridan had grabbed Peter Stringer, Jerry Flannery crashed the tête-à-tête and Lobbe threw a flurry of blows that prompted Jutge to brandish yellow.
Clearly, Munster were in the mood. It wasn't, though, about baiting the visitors; the hosts set about dismantling their visitors' vaunted pack, targeting the talisman Sebastien Chabal.
The French number eight is the focal point of a huge pack. He was a colossus in the first game between the teams, but on Saturday he fled to the midfield in search of space and to escape relentless coursing by the Munster forwards.
None embraced the task of collaring him with more gusto than Donncha O'Callaghan and David Wallace.
O'Callaghan's form this season hadn't quite scaled the heights of his contribution to the Lions last summer. But on Saturday he was outstanding in every facet of play, pinching three Sale throws at the front of the lineout, thundering into tackles on the fringes and in broken play - and saving enough wind to make the hard yards.
It recalled a game he played for Ireland against New Zealand at the 1999 Under-21 World Cup in Argentina. Lining out at blindside forward that day, he tore into the Baby Blacks, not only hugely destructive in the tackle but athletic and prodigious in carrying ball. Ireland lost but the New Zealand coach paid special tribute to O'Callaghan in the aftermath.
This was another performance of controlled ferocity.
Wallace proved an able sidekick in the hand-to-hand combat around the fringes. Renowned for his athleticism and pace in open space, he proved he's more than capable of doing the less-glamorous jobs, stopping Chabal on the gain line as "The Caveman" carried from the base of scrums.
John Hayes, who refused to permit Sale to tweak the scrum, facilitated Wallace hugely. Lions and England prop Sheridan arrived with a reputation as big as his frame but Thomond Park was undeniably the Bull's field by the end of the match.
Munster coach Declan Kidney bemoaned the fact Hayes seldom gets the kudos his performances merit, though his quiet heroics are so often crucial to the Munster effort.
Of course no Munster player shirked the workload on Saturday.
Stringer was his usual busy self. Ronan O'Gara was authoritative with boot and distribution.
Barry Murphy chose this day to offer the most compelling vindication of his talent, scoring a gloriously opportunistic try.
It's doubtful any Leinster-born player has been cheered as loudly in Limerick as was Ian Dowling - all jinks and pirouettes throughout - when he crossed for his try.
Sale will rue their obsession with brute force, seeking out contact rather than open spaces. Mark Cueto, a real threat going forward, was largely a bystander. They weren't helped when Elvis left the building - Seveali'i that is - the centre picking up a nasty knee injury.
His replacement, Epi Taoine, is a big unit, as the Australians are wont to say, but lacked the subtlety to cause problems.
By the end Sale had sprung leaks in most facets of their play.
After O'Gara and Charlie Hodgson exchanged penalties, and while Lobbe was cooling his heels, Munster grabbed the lead.
Denis Leamy grabbed the lineout ball and the pack made the most of their numerical advantage, captain Anthony Foley claiming the touchdown.
O'Gara converted, as he would do again superbly from the touchline on 30 minutes, the pack laying the foundation, good hands giving Dowling the outside shoulder on the defender to the corner.
Munster's third try owed something to good fortune and much to Murphy's composure. O'Gara's chip was partially blocked, and the centre reacted quickly and set off, changing angles as he sought support. Sale's Daniel Larrechea and Jason Robinson vacillated, and when a gap opened up between them, Murphy glided through.
The second half was an exercise in frustration as Sale contented themselves with conceding defeat but not a fourth try. Munster managed field position a couple of times, but errors saw the ball turned over.
Just when the visitors began to believe they might hold out, Shaun Payne chose a sumptuous line, and from the ruck, Wallace was on hand to apply the coup de grâce.
Cue delirium.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 5 mins: O'Gara penalty, 3-0; 9: Hodgson penalty, 3-3; 15: Foley try, O'Gara conversion, 10-3; 17: Hodgson penalty, 10-6; 30: Dowling try, O'Gara conversion, 17-6; 37: Murphy try, O'Gara conversion, 24-6; 40 (+7): Hodgson penalty, 24-9 (half-time: 24-9); 81: Wallace try, O'Gara conversion, 31-9.
MUNSTER: S Payne; J Kelly, B Murphy, T Halstead, I Dowling; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell; D Leamy, D Wallace, A Foley (capt). Replacements: F Pucciariello for Horan (40+3-40+7 mins); M O'Driscoll for O'Connell, D Fogarty for Flannery, Pucciariello for Horan, S Keogh for Foley, T O'Leary for Stringer, M Lawlor for Payne (all 82 mins). Sinbinned: Horan (36 mins).
SALE SHARKS: D Larrechea; M Cueto, M Taylor, E Seveali'i, J Robinson (capt); C Hodgson, S Martens; A Sheridan, S Bruno, B Stewart; I Fernandez-Lobbe, C Jones; J White, M Lund, S Chabal. Replacements: E Taione for Seveali'i (27 mins); R Wigglesworth for Martens (47 mins); A Titterell for Bruno (54 mins); D Schofield for Fernandez-Lobbe (59 mins); B Coutts for Stewart (64 mins); C Mayor for Jones (70 mins). Sinbinned: Fernandez-Lobbe (4 mins); C Jones (36 mins).
Referee: J Jutge (France).
