Almost as if on tap, eight tries flowed from Munster at Thomond Park on Saturday; the Irish provincial champions upping their level of performance. This was a classy all-round effort against a woefully half-hearted Cardiff.
There were a number of factors at work, most notably the close proximity of the European Cup. Castres are here in a fortnight and Munster, no doubt pacing themselves, knew they had not played really well in five previous outings, save for the second period last time out against Newport.
That was the catalyst, revealed Mick Galwey afterwards, who also agreed that a high-tempo start was the key this time.
"We had tried to do that against Newport but stood off them. This time we started well and kept it going. We were conscious that this was our last outing before the European Cup and we haven't had a chance to find our rhythm because the management have had to utilise the squad. I think they've also been trying to ensure we pace ourselves this season."
Galwey had his own source of personal motivation as well after being dropped for the 14th time at international level. "Everybody wants to be in the 22 and of course I'm disappointed but I'll keep plugging away and I won't throw in the towel. If I get the chance I'll be ready for it," said the old warrior.
He'll be back? "You better believe it."
One senses, too, there may have been an element of keeping up with the Leinster boys and by nailing down first place in pool B Munster put themselves in opposite halves of the draw for the knock-out phase - theoretically meaning the two cannot meet before the final.
Cardiff looked a good outfit on paper, but there it ended. In mitigation, they were missing five back-rowers, and their back-row was obliterated. Anthony Foley, excellent as ever, set the tone by charging through a huge gap from the first play when O'Gara simply passed infield, and Cardiff's fringe defence would be AWOL for two of the eight tries.
Their restart game was endemic of their apparent lack of planning or interest; Nick Robinson simply hoofing the ball downfield. After a couple of clear stamps by Craig Quinnell, the Cardiff hard man was binned for a late, high and dangerous tackle on Crotty - otherwise it was clean. But no-one else even incurred the wrath of the Thomond faithful. Even the normally abrasive Pieter Muller could be seen smiling and joking with opponents.
An embarrassed Gareth Edwards could be heard bemoaning the Cardiff line-out but it went deeper than that. John Hayes will have enjoyed seeing off a former tormentor in Peter Rogers, Mick O'Driscoll got through an impressive amount of work, while David Wallace rediscovered his best form and Jim Williams had a big game.
Peter Stringer cleared the ball away as crisply as only he can and save for some wayward goal kicking again, Ronan O'Gara was his polished self in everything he did, especially his line-kicking, while his defence caught the eye as well. It helped that they played most of the game on the front foot and outside them all the backs enjoyed themselves.
There was also a whiff of vengeance in their nostrils, for it had been mentioned at team meetings during the week that not only were Cardiff the only club to beat Munster on home soil in European competition (in Cork four seasons ago), they'd also won all three previous meetings.
John Kelly made his debut that day in Cork, scoring a try, and admitted "even for me I personally wanted to beat Cardiff and for the team it was definitely an incentive. It wasn't a huge point, but it was something. We'd never beaten them so to beat them was important."
Compared to four seasons ago, Kelly reckons that while today's skill levels and personnel aren't superior, fitness levels and team cohesion are far better. To which might be added self belief.
Fittingly, Kelly set Munster rolling with the first of their eight tries when coming off his wing at inside centre to ghost on to Ronan O'Gara's cleverly disguised short pass after the out-half had dummied a longer one to Jason Holland. Kelly administered the first of the final triple whammy against wilting opposition, all of which were testimony to the high skill levels which run through this team.
"The only blemish was the soft try we conceded at the end," bemoaned Galwey repeatedly. It really did rankle. They're up and running now.
Scoring sequence: 3 mins: O'Gara pen 3-0; 10 mins: Robinson pen 3-3; 17 mins: Kelly try, O'Gara con 10-3; 24 mins: Holland try, O'Gara con 17-3; 39 mins: Keane try 22-3; (half-time 22-3); 51 mins: Wallace try, O'Gara con 29-3; 55 mins: Horgan try 34-3; 68 mins: Kelly try 39-3; 74 mins: Horgan try 44-3; 76 mins: Mullins try, Staunton con 51-3; 79 mins: Howley try, Robinson con 51-10.
MUNSTER: D Crotty; J Kelly, M Mullins, J Holland, A Horgan; R O'Gara, P Stringer; P Clohessy, F Sheahan, J Hayes, M Galwey (capt), M O'Driscoll, J Williams, A Foley, D Wallace. Replacements: (temp) K Keane for Holland (33-40), P O'Connell for O'Driscoll (56 mins), J Staunton for Crotty (63 mins), M Horan for Hayes (65 mins), D O'Callaghan for Foley (70 mins).
CARDIFF: R Williams; C Hudson, M Allen, P Muller, A Sullivan; N Robinson, R Howley; P Rogers, A Lewis, D Young (capt), C Quinnell, J Tait, D McShane, S Sititi, R Appleyard. Replacements: P Jones for Hudson (22 mins), K Fourie for Rogers (58 mins), G Woods for Lewis (58 mins), J Robinson for Allen (63 mins).
