Munster completed the grand slam in the Guinness Interprovincial championship at Thomond Park last night when they scored a decisive victory over a very poor Connacht side.

Munster coach Declan Kidney took the opportunity to put out several fringe players and all of them gave a great account of themselves, especially in the second half, when Connacht offered only token resistance.

Kidney opted to play Mike Mullins, normally a centre, at full back, and he had a magnificent match, fully meriting his man-of-the-match tag.

On the debit side, however, Munster had the misfortune to lose the services of international flanker David Corkery with what may be a serious Achilles tendon injury after only 28 minutes. And his immediate future in the game must now be in doubt.

Connacht took an early lead with a penalty goal by Eric Elwood, and a disjointed Munster side took some time to settle down.

But Mullins struck for a splendid try on the half hour and Killian Keane converted, before kicking a couple of penalties that saw Munster turn over with a 133 advantage.

After that the issue was never in doubt and, if anything, Munster grew in strength with the arrival on the pitch as substitutes of Anthony Foley a Peter Clohessy and Keith Wood.

As the Connacht defence crumbled, Munster did very much as they pleased. Tries followed in quick succession from Marcus Horan, Anthony Horgan and Anthony Foley, and then there were two for replacement full back Jeremy Staunton.

Keane converted four of the six second-half tries before Connacht snatched a late consolation try by Simon Allnutt, which Elwood converted.

MUNSTER: M Mullins; J Kelly, K Keane, C Mahony, A Horgan; J Holland, B O'Meara; M Horan, F Sheehan, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, J Langford, D Corkery, E Halvey, A Quinlan. Replacements: A Foley for Corkery (28 mins); P Clohessy for Hayes (39 mins); K Wood for Sheehan (43 mins); T Tierney for O'Meara (70 mins); J Staunton for Mullins (72 mins).

CONNACHT: S Allnutt; P Duignan, M Mostyn, M Deane, N Carolan; E Elwood, D Mescal; J Maher, S McDonald, M Cahill, G Webster, M McConnell, B Gavin, E Brennan, M Steffert. Replacements: B Jackman for Brennan (54 mins); C Kilroy for Deane (70 mins).

Referee: A Lewis (Leinster).