A sense of duty to return to Thomond

So another Munster odyssey is up and running again. Saturday in Newport ranked right up there with Colomiers, Saracens, Castres and Toulouse. Worth the bleary-eyed return journey by planes, trains and automobiles. As the Munster supporter put it when he was asked if he had any identification in Cardiff airport yesterday: "Nope, but I know Munster beat Newport."

The tad premature pitch invasion apart, it was only right and fitting that their unofficial 16th man - in this case the visiting support must have been close to 3,000 - should share the victorious moments with their players at the full-time whistle and take over Rodney Parade.

"We were conscious of the fact that we had a lot of support coming over. After Christmas people had to dig deep and it's a real community thing back in Ireland and we always try to give our best, especially for our supporters," admitted captain Mick Galwey. Coach Declan Kidney pointed out that when some of the travelling red army didn't leave Rosslare harbour until midnight on Friday that the Munster squad owed them one, all the more so after the Bath trip and defeat.

Now, with the 8,000 capacity Musgrave Park long since sold out for next week's final pool game against Castres, aside from the huge playing advantage of procuring a home quarter-final by winning that game Kidney added that there would also be a sense of duty at work in that a quarter-final at Thomond Park would enable a bigger capacity of 13,000 to support the team.

In the immediate aftermath of this latest famous victory, Kidney looked as if he had been through the emotional ringer more than normal and you almost felt that the endless round of interviewing was a tad intrusive. In part, he explained, this was because it wasn't a normal case of just winning or losing. The permutations (Newport needing to win by two tries or by one try and nine points or more) were on a knife edge for the entire match. "Even when we led 25-24 Newport were only a try away from being ranked above us." So the only time the Munster brains trust could begin to think of relaxing and giving their mathematical antennae a rest was after Mike Mullins' 77th minute try.

That the Newport players patiently and sportingly waited for the mobbed Munstermen to finally make it to the dressing-room and applaud them also moved Kidney: "It's one of the real plusses of the competition that that still goes on."

Harry Williams had phoned Kidney on Saturday morning to forewarn him that getting back into the pace of the game was difficult. "So it's all credit to Mick and the players that they kept their anxiety levels down and believed in themselves, and then we defended around their 22 in the second half as opposed to the first half." "The second half was tactical," opined Galwey. "We didn't play enough of the game in their half in the first half. We just wanted to get down there, take our chances and defend well, and keep our discipline."

Heavily penalised in the first half, Kidney maintained that Joel Jutge was good in that he was consistent. "It was clear how he was refereeing the rucks so there was no point in competing for ruck ball. Instead we stopped doing that and he became less of a factor."

While bemoaning basic mistakes and their own lack of confidence and consistency over 80 minutes, Newport captain Gary Teichmann took what must have been a huge blow on the chin: "They (Munster) are playing with a lot of confidence and spirit. I think they know what the tournament's about, and how to win away from home. It'll be important for them to get a home quarter-final, but they've got the ability (to win the Cup) definitely."

After a personal and a Munster record of 29 points, Ronan O'Gara was entitled to give his own press conference, which he did with his typically effortless and good-humoured ease. He had been inspired to a degree by Neil Jenkins' all-embracing performance the night before, he admitted. "He was going on outside breaks and stuff so I thought if he can do it surely we can do it," he added cheekily.

"I was in the groove tonight. Once I got my set-up right I was confident that I was going to get them over," he said of his seven from seven, though admitted one of his droopy drop goals was "a little low scud missile." He attributed his improved running game to the fitness work he's been doing with Craig White.

"You get knocked for certain things but I knew I was always capable of a performance like this. I've got to keep it at that level now. There's an awful lot to play for personally this season so why not go for it. Who else is out there to be honest."

Of his remarkable team-mates O'Gara said: ["]The bigger the challenge the better the team. There's a huge appetite there with the likes of Gailimh and Claw coming to the end and a good youth injection and a few of us are playing international level, so the Heineken Cup probably isn't as big a step up as it might have been in the past."

There's no rest for the successful, though, and following their late-night return on Saturday many of the squad were obliged to travel up to Dublin yesterday for today's Irish double session. "We'll have to give them a bit of a rest on Tuesday and basically let the players decide from there," said Kidney, whose one concern is David Wallace's arm injury. It gets tougher too, for there is a planned two-day Irish get-together next Monday and Tuesday on the week of the quarter-finals.

All in all, it's hardly ideal, but Kidney maintained his cutomary phlegm. "You've got two choices, you can either crib about it or get on with it."

Days like this make it all worthwhile. "If you enjoy these days in their own right then they'll happen and you can appreciate them but if you don't then it's never going to happen," said Kidney. ["]So you appreciate it every time it happens and being a small part of it every time it happens."