In one of the most entertaining games of a long and rewarding campaign, Munster powered their way to a bonus point victory over the Ospreys before being crowned the new Magners League champions in front of a jubilant Thomond Park crowd.
Two weeks before the Lions roar into action, tour captain Paul O’Connell closed off his club season by lifting the Magners League trophy for Munster at Thomond Park on Friday.
Already assured of the title before kick-off, Munster secured their third win of the season over the Ospreys thanks to tries from Paul Warwick, David Wallace (2), Denis Leamy and Anthony Horgan.
The result also saw Federico Pucciariello, John O’Sullivan, Mike Prendergast, Kieran Lewis, Frankie Sheahan and Horgan end their Munster careers on a triumphant note, the latter two after 12 years with their home province.
In what was Sean Holley’s last game in charge of the Ospreys, James Hook kept himself in the running for a late Lions call-up with a 10-point haul.
But this was Munster’s night and a fitting way to end Tony McGahan’s first season in charge which saw the men in red win 14 out of their 18 league games.
Jonathan Spratt strayed offside as he looked to close down the threat of Lifeimi Mafi, allowing Ronan O’Gara slot a fourth-minute penalty for the lead.
Hook succeeded with his second penalty attempt and although there was little on the line, this Celtic encounter soon burst into life.
Munster struck for the opening try when Niall Ronan ripped the ball free from his opposite number Marty Holah, setting off a fluid attack which ended with Warwick handing off debutant David Evans and racing 40 metres in behind the posts.
O’Gara converted and both sides continued to attack from deep. Mafi, Ronan and Leamy simmered for the hosts, while Holah, Hook and Sonny Parker, in his 100th game for the Ospreys, led by example for the Welshmen.
Ashley Beck tracked back to thwart Doug Howlett’s chase of an O’Gara kick and the Ospreys then sprung Ian Gough into space on the left.
A brilliant offload out of the tackle from Richard Hibbard released Gough on an angled run, the big lock booted the ball forward for Evans to chase but Wallace was alive to the danger.
Holley’s men looked certain to score a try on 26 minutes, after an initial break from captain Ryan Jones, but a dropped pass from Spratt spoilt the attack.
Six minutes before half-time, Hook did the business with an opportunist score.
Ball off the top of a lineout from Holah saw Filo Tiatia link with Hibbard and as the hooker was tackled, the ball squirted out perfectly for the advancing Hook to gather, hand off O’Gara and dive over under the posts.
Hook’s conversion levelled it but Munster gathered serious momentum off the restart and after a good hit at a close range scrum from Tony Buckley, number 8 Wallace pounced off the base to muscle his way over the whitewash.
Wallace’s unconverted effort had Munster 15-10 ahead at the break and the newly-crowned champions upped the gears in the third quarter.
They scored two tries in the space of three minutes through Leamy, who spun out of two tackles to dot down from metres out, and Wallace, who profited from some excellent interplay which included a midfield break from Peter Stringer and a powerful run from Denis Fogarty.
Man-of-the-match Fogarty was back in defence to help force a knock-on from Beck as the Ospreys winger dived over the try-line, while Tiatia missed out on a try due to some committed defending from Ian Dowling.
Munster lost Wallace to the sin-bin for hands in the ruck but fittingly, amid a raft of replacements, Horgan, in only his fourth competitive appearance of the season, took a great line off a Kieran Lewis pass to gallop through from the left for his last try in red.
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