Gloucester 3 Munster 16: ANOTHER ONE for the pantheon of memorable wins by the marvels of Munster, and this one ranks right up there with the various days when they've toppled French aristocrats and English kingpins in their own back gardens.
As had to be the case, Munster were obliged to cling on a tad desperately at times and very often were stretched to breaking point. But, as is also the way with their on-the-road epics, they never broke.
Gloucester gave the ball plenty of width and looked to offload but the Munster defence was excellent. In a tribute to the work of defensive coach Tony McGann, they diligently double-tackled to limit the number of Gloucester offloads and closed the space superbly, and though looking a little narrow at times early on, they never allowed themselves to become too soft out wide.
They had to scramble on occasion, and, living on their considerable wits, were obliged to make decisions off the cuff, none better than IaDowling.
The left-winger twice did the maths and shot up to cut off hard-earned overlaps and prevent probably seven-pointers.
Indeed, helped by the unusually awry boot of Chris Paterson, they came within 10 minutes of completing the best "0" in the history of the competition.
Gloucester's game would have flowed a whole lot more but for the continuing nuisance value and physicality of Alan Quinlan, scandalously overlooked at Test level for the past year, and Donncha O'Callaghan. They targeted Rory Lawson at the base all day and this was a telling factor in the win.
Paul O'Connell too was immense, his ultra-combative nature setting the template and even a couple of handling slips turned into offloads.
As expected, Gloucester thundered into contact in the first quarter and early on were winning the collisions. But Munster were well up for the fight and whatever Gloucester could throw at them.
That could be seen in the way Denis Leamy, as gentle as a pussycat off the pitch but a tiger at feeding time on it, reacted to Lesley Vainikolo's playground bully-boying of Rua Tipoki after the whistle in the fiery and feisty opening salvos.
Though Ronan O'Gara missed the resultant penalty to touch - Munster's only chance of a reprieve from the early onslaught - the dams didn't burst à la the Clermont Auvergne onslaught. In fact, they didn't even fracture once.
The perceived wisdom, and general source of regret among Munster supporters, was that Paterson's selection ahead of Iain Balshaw could hurt Munster. Little did we know.
In the event, far from hurting Munster, Paterson's normally immaculate place-kicking let them off the hook. Having landed 33 in a row for his country dating back to Scotland's World Cup warm-up win over Ireland last August, he missed three in a row here, including two "gimmes" when the game was scoreless.
In that ferocious opening salvo, a return on the scoreboard would have given Gloucester momentum to augment their bright start and reward the raucous encouragement of their fans.
Andy Hazell and his fellow backrowers were running hard and straight, while Ryan Lamb was giving their running game plenty of width.
Munster had to wait 10 minutes for their first foray though Tipoki up the middle off a lineout, and after great hands by Leamy, O'Gara's trusty right boot opened the scoring.
It still required daring by Declan Kidney in bringing on Federico Pucciariello at loosehead when Munster possibly came within one put-in of a seven-pointer, but having given note of their own cutting edge when Hurley was called back after "crossing" by Leamy, Munster struck.
They seem to have an inbuilt clock that signals when the time is right to collectively crank up their own attacking intent.
So it was that when Quinlan spoiled Lawson at the base well inside the visitors' 22 and Munster recycled, Doug Howlett was alive to the possibilities.
With Lifeimi Mafi and Tipoki in harmony, Dowling was released for a charge up the wing, cleverly coming inside and resourcefully keeping the move alive.
Another dozen phases and about two minutes and 15 seconds later, Howlett was putting Dowling over in the corner after a punishing, exhausting drive.
The Shed had been reduced to stunned silence as chants of "Munster" gave way to the day's loudest rendition of The Fields.
It was the ultimate in a team try, reminiscent of an equally compelling effort against Toulouse in Bordeaux eight years ago.
Everybody had contributed and worked his socks off: O'Callaghan and O'Connell cleared out rucks repeatedly, David Wallace broke three tackles to sustain the momentum, O'Connell carried twice and Quinlan three times, the last when quick ball was secured by Mafi's clean-out. Tipoki drew defenders like flies to a spider, and though his offload eluded O'Gara, it broke off Vainikolo's attempted gather ahead of Jerry Flannery for Howlett to give Dowling the run-in.
Somehow, in that moment, you knew they would do it - not that you had ever seriously doubted them. Having weathered further storms - which were becoming briefer and less frequent - Munster struck the killer blow soon after the hour.
O'Callaghan and Quinlan instigated it, the former picking off Will James's fumble for Quinlan, critically, to maximise the turnover potential by offloading to O'Gara. He in turn found Howlett, and Hurley, having read what was on, steamed up on the inside to take the ball and grubber deftly to the corner for Howlett to score his third try in three games with a superb finish that made the score look much easier than it was.
In the final analysis, save for Hurley catching James Simpson-Daniel from behind, Gloucester never crossed the line or even made a clean line break.
By contrast, Munster had a try disallowed and Howlett's near miss off O'Gara's deft grubber, which went to the video referee, in addition to the two tries they brilliantly plundered. It says something about the ruthless mood they were in that they were even pushing for a 23-3 win. They're an amazing lot, they really are.
SCORING SEQUENCE:
14 mins:O'Gara pen 0-3; 40: Dowling try 0-8 (half-time 0-8); 50: O'Gara pen 0-11; 64: Howlett try 0-16; 70: Lamb pen 3-16.
GLOUCESTER RUGBY:O Morgan; C Paterson, J Simpson-Daniel, A Allen, L Vainikolo; R Lamb, R Lawson; N Wood, A Titterrell, C Nieto; M Bortolami (capt), A Brown; P Buxton, A Hazell, L Narraway.
Replacements: G Delve for Buxton (34-40 and 51 mins), M Tindall for Allen (40+5 mins), J Paul for Titterrell (56-63 mins), W Walker for Paterson (58 mins), W James for Bortolami (56 mins), A Dickinson for Wood, G Cooper for Lawson (both 67 mins).
MUNSTER: Denis Hurley; D Howlett, R Tipoki, L Mafi, I Dowling; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; T Buckley, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell (capt); A Quinlan, D Wallace, D Leamy.
Replacements: F Pucciariello for Buckley (33 mins), Buckley for Pucciariello (71 mins), A Foley for Leamy (77 mins), M O'Driscoll for Wallace (84 mins). Not used: F Sheahan, P Stringer, P Warwick, K Lewis.
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
