Munster still haven't shown full hand

European Cup Pool Four: As ever, the palpable mood of another Thomond Park capacity crowd mirrored that of their team. At the end of a 21st Heineken European Cup win in succession at the venue, you sensed that supporters and team alike made off into the bitingly cold night less than overwhelmed by this latest scalp.at Thomond Park

It's funny how we reflect on games. If, for example, Munster's resilient and wonderfully opportunistic performance into the wind in the first period had come after the interval, one ventures that the post-match mood would have been a good deal more positive.

As it was, Munster's second-half performance bore all the hallmarks of a side that had mentally put the cart (a bonus point) before the horse (the win) going into the second period.

Paul Burke acquitted himself well, not least in landing a couple of tricky conversions into the wind, but had Ronan O'Gara been there for a 47th cup game in a row, he'd assuredly have used his local knowledge of the wind to clear the Ospreys back three and locate the corners.

Munster had the chances to claim a third try in the third quarter, but lacked the patience that the Ospreys showed in abundance to build through the phases - two subsequent chips from the Munster halves in the second period would have had Alan Gaffney tearing his hair out.

Attacking the blind side had clearly been part of the gameplan, and reaped a rich dividend in the first half, but they overcooked it a couple of times prematurely in that third quarter when Peter Stringer attempted a long floated pass to Mossy Lawlor and when chipping the ball into the in-goal area.

Stringer had, in fairness, taken on a lot more responsibility and his defensive work-rate was huge, while through it all, the backrow were immense.

Alan Quinlan put himself about physically and was perhaps the game's most enduring force. Anthony Foley, in his 65th cup start out of 65 games, underlined how invaluable he is, with his leadership, defensive clout and Munster's two biggest plays of the game and Denis Leamy complemented his big ball-carrying and bear-hug tackling by forcing a couple of vital turnover penalties at the breakdown.

Perhaps the biggest compliment one can pay the indefatigable Munster backrow trio is that Gaffney ultimately didn't replace any of them with Jim Williams, one of his favourite members of the collective Munster Brains Trust to have on the field.

As a Thomond Park/European Cup experience, placing Saturday's cauldron of noise alongside previous encounters this season, it wasn't as subdued as the opening 15-9 win over Harlequins. Nor did it scale the heights of the 36-8 win over Castres. Perhaps, as one taxi driver ventured, it was the post-Christmas hangover.

It had elements of both the aforementioned games, in that the unexpected last quarter defensive effort against Harlequins was emulated here, and as with the Castres game, there was the concession of an early try to an initially dominant force in another slow start, albeit when the quick-witted duo of Jason Spice and Shane Williams made maximum use of a turnover.

Ultimately, the famed Munster lineout maul didn't emerge as the weapon it had been of late.

This was for three reasons. Firstly, and mercifully, the worst of last week's weather had relented by Saturday afternoon. Secondly, the Ospreys defended it a lot better, and thirdly, Munster didn't set up nearly as many field positions for it to count.

Nevertheless, at least they reminded themselves and everyone else they are not totally reliant on that ploy. Having weathered the Ospreys' opening 30-minute onslaught, two tries Munster scored were excellently conceived.

The tide turned when they cleverly launched Leamy through the Ospreys' line - one of the few linebreaks in the entire encounter.

Leamy perhaps should have gone for the better percentage to Shaun Payne rather than the skip-pass to Mossy Lawlor, but Payne's elusiveness off the recycle gave the move some further momentum before Leamy was held up short.

The Munster scrum cranked up the pressure and though Stringer's blind-side pass to Lawlor was palmed down by Shane Williams, off a third put-in which twisted toward the openside, Foley picked up, took Spice's tackle and squirmed over.

This was a 20th cup try for Munster's leading try scorer in the competition, a remarkable tally for a forward - and Foley was the prime creative force behind the second.

It started with Lawlor running back a Matt Jones kick, and an understandably pumped up Marcus Horan showed great strength in the tackle to take it on before Christian Cullen and Foley probed the blindside.

Cue some sharp footballing brainpower. Attacking the narrow side again, Stringer read Williams' attempted intercept to float a skip pass to Foley, who took it on and grubbered ahead for Cullen to brilliantly slide, gather and touchdown.

Practising the footballing skills Anthony? "I never lost them," he retorted, having shown more of them than his beloved Manchester United on the same day. It also was a world-class finish by a world-class finisher, Cullen possessing the same icy clarity of thought in front of the whitewash that, say, a Ruud van Nistleroy shows in front of goal.

The All Blacks' record try-scorer thus scored his second try in consecutive games, and his 10th of the campaign. After a shaky start, the confidence began flowing through his veins and Cullen promptly followed up the score with a couple of searing big hits, as well as a vital try-saving tackle from behind on the ankles of Gavin Henson and shepherding Elvis Seveali'i into touch when the Ospreys' last quarter pressure reached its zenith.

As with the Harlequins win, that collective defensive effort (epitomised by Lawlor) will stand to them. After the unusual leakage of nine tries in the quarter-final and semi-final last season, the hours on the training ground with defensive coach Graham Steadman has clearly paid dividends.

They'll need more to progress further and become genuine contenders again, but, contrary to the sceptics amongst us, the suspicion lurks that they have more in them.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 3 mins: Burke pen 3-0; 6 mins: S Williams try, Henson con 3-7; 34 mins: Foley try, Burke con 10-7; 37 mins: Cullen try, Burke con 17-7. Half-time: 17-7. 48 mins: Burke pen 20-7; 62 mins: Henson pen 20-10.

MUNSTER: C Cullen; M Lawlor, S Payne, M Mullins, A Horgan; P Burke, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell, A Quinlan, D Leamy, A Foley (capt). Replacements: G McIlwham for Hayes (78 mins). Not used: J Flannery, T Hogan, J Williams, M Prendergast, J Holland, J Storey.

N-S OSPREYS: A Durston; S Terblanche, S Parker, G Henson, S Williams; M Jones, J Spice; D Jones, B Williams (capt), A Millward, B Cockbain, J Thomas, J Bater, R Pugh, R Jones. Replacements: A Newman for Cockbain (half-time); A Jones for Millward (49 mins); D Bishop for M Jones (56); P James for D Jones, A Lloyd for Pugh (both 64); E seveali'i for Terblanche (79). Not used: R Hibbard.

Referee: Chris White (England).