A typically strong defensive display and an unblemished place-kicking return from Ian Keatley were the key components of Munster’s fourth straight win of the new RaboDirect PRO12 campaign.
Ian Keatley kicked six penalties from six attempts to make the most of the possesion Munster eked out on a night that ended in high drama.
With the last play of the game the Blues flashed the ball wide on the right and impressive young winger Alex Cuthbert scorched over in the right corner. However, the final pass was clearly forward and Munster emerged with a hard-fought five-point win
Ceri Sweeney should have kicked the Blues into the lead when offered an easy opportunity in the opening minutes and that miss looked all the more glaring when Keatley knocked one over from a metre inside the Cardiff half in the fourth minute.
Sweeney missed another opportunity in the tenth minute but he found a good position on the Munster 22 with a 12th minute penalty and when the Blues went wide, the visitors needed a last gasp Denis Hurley tackle to deny Cuthbert in the corner.
Referee David Wlkinson referred that one to television match official Gareth Simmonds and moments later he needed to go the assistance of replays again to determine if Xavier Rush had made the line.
The big New Zealander had failed to score and Munster’s try line remained unbreached after 255 minutes of RaboDirect PRO12 rugby.
Sweeney finally found his range form 23 metres after Munster were penalised at scrum time but in the 21st minute, when Munster walked the Blues pack backwards, Keatley calmly stroked over the penalty from wide out on the right to put his side 6-3 in front.
He was on the mark again in the 33rd minute with a marvellous effort from the left hand side, near the halfway line, and reprised that four minutes later to leave Munster leading 12-3 at the break.
Cuthbert became the first player to score a try against Munster this season when he ran one in, in the 44th minute, Sweeney’s successful conversion reducing te gap to just two points
But from the restart, the Blues were penalised and once again the in-form Keatley split the posts with a cracking effort.
The arrival of Casey Laulala in the 53rd minute added a potency to the Cardiff back-line that had been previously missing and once again a big Hurley hit in midfield ended a threatening Blues move.
The subsequent Munster put-in forced a penalty and another superb Keatley strike pushed the reigning champions and current table toppers eight points clear with 22 minutes remaining.
A scrum put-in to the Blues just outside their own 22 provided an unlikely launching pad for the home side’s best attack of the night.
Laulala orchestrated the move that ended five metres short of the Munster line but the breakout almost saw Doug Howlett get clear before the initiative was lost when Tony McGahan’s men were penalised.
Cardiff upped the ante. Cuthbert got bundled into touch five metres out on the right and then Munster somehow defended their try line under the posts but conceded the penalty. Sweeney made it a one score game (18-13) to ensure a frantic finish.
With four minutes left on the clock, a long range counter from the Blues was helped by clear blocking that went ignored and play was taken back into Munster territory where they coughed up their own lineout.
The Blues attacked on the right and then the left, Munster were penalised and lost Keatley to the sin-bin. The Welsh region had two successive five-metre lineouts, but Munster’s pack held firm at close quarters.
The Blues had no option but to spread the ball wide. Cuthbert looked to have taken advantage of an overlap to cross in the corner, however the forward pass was spotted and Munster held on to push five points clear at the top of the table.
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