MAGNERS LEAGUE/Munster 11 Ulster 37:IT'S A final scoreline that simply defies belief, but the truth is that an admittedly off-colour Munster were outplayed and out-thought by a superbly-drilled Ulster side that appears to be on the right road following 12 testing months for their coach, Matt Williams.
His counterpart, Tony McGahan, described his side's performance as "frustrating" and while the final result has got that freakish quality about it, it was nevertheless an uncharacteristic 80 minutes from the home side. Making too many unforced errors and lacking composure and cohesiveness, Munster suffered what amounted to an embarrassing home defeat.
However, you'd imagine that when back to full strength for their Heineken Cup matches against Sale and Montauban later this month, Munster will return to former heights and record this defeat, as well as the loss to Connacht a week earlier, as simply blips in what has been a relatively good season so far for the double-chasing province.
Worryingly for McGahan Rua Tipoki picked up a first-half injury that will count him out for the next few weeks. McGahan admitted afterwards that the result has acted a "wake-up call" as they face into three testing matches in successive weekends against Ospreys in the Magners League before tackling Sale and Montauban in Europe.
Some may venture that since the start of this season's European Cup, Munster's only complete performance (aside from the All Blacks match) was away to Sale, and that in recent weeks, the team looks shorn of confidence.
"During a course of a season, sides go through different ebbs and flows, don't they?" said McGahan.
"When things are running your way, you seem to get all the bounces of the ball and calls, but when you're not playing that well you don't seem to get them.
"You need to work hard to put yourself in those positions and I thought they (Ulster) did that this evening.
"The great thing about sport and the great thing about rugby is this week gives us an opportunity to go forward and get a result (against Ospreys). We haven't become a bad side overnight. This week gives us an opportunity to get back on track, work hard and get through it."
Asked whether he was alarmed by his team's performances over the past several weeks, McGahan pondered for a moment, before saying: "That's a good question . . . we're working as hard as we can, the players are working hard - they're a proud bunch.
"Confidence is one of those things - you don't know where it goes, you don't know where it comes from. All we need to do is galvanise together and work hard and you'll get there."
For all of Munster's shortcomings on the night, Williams' young side bristled with confidence and must be lauded for producing its most complete display since the affable Australian took over the reigns of a the crisis-hit province 12 months ago.
Here, the Williams revolution looked near completion. Led superbly by Ian Humphreys from the pivotal position, Ulster took the game to the European champions, scoring five tries in the process.
Humphreys' performance was indeed a feature of the night and surely the younger brother of David must come into the reckoning for the place on Declan Kidney's Six Nations squad. Two years ago, he also played a blinder in Thomond Park when lining out in Leicester colours, inspiring the Tigers to a Heineken Cup win - and Munster's first European defeat in Limerick.
Another player whose profile has soared in recent weeks is Darren Cave and alongside Paddy Wallace he is forging a fine centre partnership that can only augur well for Irish rugby. Stephen Ferris looked every inch a Lion while unsung hero and Aussie native Ed O'Donoghue - whose father hails from Cork - put in a masterful performance.
"Munster are a great team and a great organisation, but it was just our day," said a magnanimous Williams afterwards who also was full of praise for Humphreys. "And because Munster is such a great team, it makes our win that good.
"What we really wanted to do today was come into his great rugby city, and play with pride. I thought we did play with pride and with passion and we played with the ball-in-hand too, which I was really pleased with."
"To just do it in one game doesn't make us a champion team," cautioned Williams.
"Munster do it year after year after year - that's what makes them a champion side. We've done it for a couple of weeks. We're nowhere near in that part of the world yet."
Munster trailed their fired-up visitors 22-6 at the interval after first-half tries from Paddy Wallace, Cave and Mark McCrea, and though the Reds restarted positively, the European champions found themselves 23 points in arrears after Tom Court drove over from a close-in ruck in the 47th minute.
Munster did lift their game in patches. Kieran Lewis tried very hard on the left wing and was prevented from scoring a much-needed try in the 56th minute thanks to sterling work in the Ulster defence by Ferris and Paul Steinmetz.
There was one moment of inspiration from Munster to help light up a gloomy night in Limerick when Paul Warwick set up Doug Howlett with a delicate diagonal kick to the corner.
That came in the 67th minute but the final nail in the Munster coffin came in the 71st minute when Andrew Trimble got on the end of beautifully-weighted Humphreys' kick, beating Howlett to claim Ulster's fifth try.
MUNSTER: D Hurley; D Howlett, R Tipoki (B Murphy 40+2 mins), L Mafi, K Lewis; R O'Gara (capt) (P Warwick 17 mins), P Stringer (M Prendergast 72 mins); F Pucciariello (T Ryan 49 mins), J Flannery ( D Fogarty 75 mins), J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll; D Ryan (A Quinlan 49mins), N Ronan, N Williams (J Coughlan 59 mins).
ULSTER: C Schifcoske; T Nagusa (M McCrea 15), D Cave, P Wallace (P Steinmetz 54-64 mins), A Trimble; I Humphreys, I Boss (P Marshall 80 +1 mins); T Court (J Fitzpatrick 64 mins), N Brady (R Best 71), BJ Botha; M McCullough, E O'Donoghue, S Ferris, K Dawson (captain) (D Pollock 71 mins), R Diack.
Referee: A Lewis (IRFU).
