FROM THE ARCHIVES HEINEKEN CUP EXPLOITS/April 29th 2002: GERRY THORNLEYreports from Beziers on Munster's thrilling 25-17 semi-final victory over Castres

THE whole added up to more than the sum of its parts. This was a massive, cumulative effort, which went beyond even the 15 who started and the excellence of Donnacha O’Callaghan and Marcus Horan off the bench.

Inevitably, it incorporated the collective will of Munster and their 9,000-strong Red Army, as ultimately Castres and the Stade de la Mediterranee were simply engulfed by an irresistible force.

Dusting off the cobwebs of just one game in three months, Munster grew stronger and stronger. There were no weak links in the chain. The scrum stood up rock solid, shoulder to shoulder with a supposedly fierce Castres set-piece, as did the lineouts, apart from two overthrows to Alan Quinlan at the tail and Paul O’Connell letting one slip through his fingers late on.

The swarming Munster defence suffocated the life out of the Castres running game. Castres’ use of the ball was unexceptional and even un-French to a degree. A defining moment was the back three’s utterly unconvincing counter-attack at 9-15 just past the hour, when Ugo Mola shuffled across field in not so splendid isolation on a switch with Romain Teulet and was hounded into touch by a swarm of red players.

The grip had become vicelike. Munster had them. Then, inevitably, there were the “Cool Hand Lukes”, Peter Stringer and Ronan O’Gara, pulling the strings. When O’Gara goes well, Munster go well, and like his team he grew and grew in stature, his assured place-kicking steering them home.

Long before the end it was clear it was going to come down to who applied the greater pressure, field position and then penalties. They swapped tries in injury time, with the Castres try more of a gloss than Munster’s. In essence, they were largely incidental to the main plot of the match.

The wind was stronger than appeared even from the shaded press box. With Castres having first use of it, Munster’s first-half performance was largely one of containment. Even when they trailed 9-0 to three penalties from the robotic Romain Teulet, Munster were not unduly concerned.

They threw to Mick Galwey and mauled, how they mauled, running the clock down and eating up the yards. They worked their way upfield for O’Gara to land a couple of penalties before the break.

Munster re-emerged with cold-eyed intent. Gregor Townsend knocked-on off the recycled restart to the second half.

David Wallace played in his face all day and the Scottish outhalf – like his team-mates – cracked under the pressure.

Townsend’s rather blatant bridging to protect ball in the tackle then allowed O’Gara to level matters on the next play. That was a gift-wrapped three points. Munster went for the throat and tightened their grip. Arnaud Costes came in from the side for O’Gara to push Munster in front, the Fields of Athenry echoed around the red half of the ground.

It seemed like a seminal moment. Right on cue, O’Gara then began attacking the gain line, he and Stringer probing the blind side and releasing Jason Holland up the touchline. Cometh the hour, O’Gara – having already kicked one penalty after his guest spot on ER – remarkably landed another penalty from 50 yards.

Briefly Castres had a sniff after Teulet’s fourth but, in any event. O’Gara sent over a penalty from his own half after Townsend stiff-armed O’Callaghan. A huge relieving roar greeted a mighty lineout steal close to the Munster line by O’Connell. Horan won another vital turnover on the deck and O’Gara found a huge touch.

Then came the insurance score. Jason Holland chipped through. He overcooked it slightly but Olivier Sarramea messed up and Morgan hacked on for Kelly to calmly gather and narrow O’Gara’s conversion. Kidney, Niall O’Donovan and Jerry Holland embraced. That was it. They knew it. We all knew it. Longstaff’s try couldn’t dampen the party.

Scoring sequence: 21 mins: Teulet pen, 3-0; 33: Teulet pen. 6-0; 36: Teulet pen. 9-0; 39: O’Gara pen, 9-3; 40 mlns: O’Gara pen, 9-6; (half-time 9-6); 42: O’Gara pen, 9-9; 54: O’Gara pen, 9-12; 61: O’Gara pen 9-15; 69: Teulet pen 12-15; 73: O’Gara pen, 12-18; 83: Kelly try, O’Gara con, 12-25; 86: Longstatf try 17-25.

CASTRES OLYMPIQUE: R Teulet; U Mola, E Artiguste, N Berryman, S Longstaff; G Townsend (capt), A Albouy; M Reggiardo. Ft Ibanez, B Moyle, I Fernandez Lobbe, N Spanghero, R Froment, A Costes, I Lassissi. Replacements: R Vignaux for Ibanez (halftime), G Delmotte for Artiguste (52 mins), S Chinarro for Costes (66-68) and for Spanghero (70), 0 Dima for Reggiardo (70), 0 Sarramea for Teulet (77). Slnblnned: Moyle (20-30 mins).

MUNSTER: D Crotty; J Kelly, R Henderson, J Holland, A Morgan; R O’Gara, P Stringer; P Clohessy, F Sheahan, J Hayes, M Galwey (capt), P O’Connell, A Quinlan, A Foley, D Wallace. Replacements: D O’Callaghan for Foley (16 mins), M Horan for O’Callaghan (23-30 mins) and for Clohessy (70), M Mullins for O’Gara (46-52 mins) and for Henderson (85), J Staunton for Crotty (85). Sinbinned: Clohessy (20-30 mins).

Referee: C White (England).