Kidney looks at the positives

Celtic League: Did Munster's pride get the better of their judgment? Admittedly, declining the chance of an equalising penalty was true to type on the night, but it seemed almost as if Munster were too proud to settle for a draw. This was Munster, the team of 18 successive home wins. We don't settle for home draws.

Whatever, but there wasn't a shred of self-recrimination. "We play positive rugby, I believe, and we went for the win at the start of the game, and we had one (kick) at the end for a draw, but sometimes you just have to hold your nerve and see these things through," argued coach Declan Kidney.

"Look at all the wins that (attitude) has got us in the past. So we could have got a draw, but we give full credit to Ulster. They've had a good night here, we've had some good nights up in Ulster, that's the way these games go."

In any event, there will be plenty for Munster to mull over. "Yes, we made mistakes, but, one, we didn't make them on purpose, and two, we were trying things. We're hugely disappointed with the result, but we'll take the performance, and if we stay positive and we keep trying things it will take good sides like Ulster to beat us. That's what sport is all about."

There were pluses for Munster, not least the barnstorming performance of David Wallace, whose badly gashed leg should recover in time for the Dragons match next weekend.

However, it is difficult to recall such a lack of precision in a Munster performance, particularly at home. "I think mistakes cost us," admitted Anthony Foley. "It boils down to handling errors, poor scrummaging at times, bad lineouts at times. We made up for all that and just came up short. We were 17 points down at half-time and came out to play our game.

"We gambled, we stayed positive. We could have easily asked Rog (Ronan O'Gara) to go for the posts and take a 20-all draw, or they could have won it 23-20 with a kick-off into our half. You don't know what's going to happen."

So no regrets, and Munster move on.

"You get a good kick in the rear and get on with it," said Foley. "At times teams respond better to a defeat. It would have been nice if Hoggy (Anthony Horgan) had got in at the end, we'd have taken that. But then would we have taken our foot off in training? Now we'll be really focused next week, because there are a lot of angry minds in our changing room, and we're all very disappointed and looking forward to making up for it next week."

In contrast, Ulster coach Mark McCall could bask in an outstanding away win. "Our first-half performance was very good. I thought we defended very well, forced them into making mistakes and scored two very good tries.

"We talked at half-time about keeping it in the same vein, and not defending our lead," admitted McCall, laughing, before conceding, "and then we defended for the whole 40 minutes.

"I think we were forced into that by the two sinbinnings. Our defence in the first hour was wonderful and I think it took its toll. But at the same time, it's an excellent result and a great preparation for next week," added McCall, in reference to Friday's European Cup tie at home to Saracens, "because I think the second half particularly was played at European intensity. It's a six-day turn-around, and though there's some tired bodies in there, they're in good spirits and it's going to give them confidence.

"But in many ways next week is more important than this. Let's be honest. Because they're ambitious, because they want to get over this thing about not reaching the quarter-finals, this is a massive game."

Kieran Campbell had his hand stood on but an X-ray yesterday gave him the all-clear and McCall was hopeful that Paul Steinmetz (knee) and Neil McMillan would also overcome knocks.