Four second half tries, including a first for Munster for Doug Howlett, helped the home side to an emphatic 42-6 win over Ulster in front of a 7500 crowd at Musgrave Park.
Munster went into the interval break leading 14-6 thanks to fitrst half tries from Tony Buckley and Mick O’Driscoll, both converted by Ronan O’Gara but then produced a second half of òpen rugby that yielded a rich harvest.
The out-half himself opened the second half scoring with a try after just four minutes taking a lovely pass from Man of the Match Niall Ronan.
O’Gara then threaded through a superb kick for Tomas O’Leary to touch down in the 65th minute for the bonus point before replacement James Coughlan scored try number five ten minutes later.
The biggest roar of the evening greeted Howlett’s try in the 76th minutes and the former All Black almost scored a second at the death, his scything run up the left touchline stopped when he was tackled into touch inches short of the line.
Munster: D Hurley; D Howlett, K Lewis (D Ryan), L Mafi, B carney (P Stringer); R O’Gara (P Warwick), T O’Leary; M Horan (J Hayes), J Flannery (F Sheahan), T Buckley; M O’Driscoll (D O’Callaghan), P O’Connell capt; A Quinlan, N Ronan, A Foley (J Coughlan).
Ulster: B Cunningham; T Bowe, A Trimble, P Wallace, M Bartholomeusz; N O’Connor, P Marshall; J Fitzpatrick, R Best capt, T Court; R Caldwell, C Del Fava; N Best, D Pollock, S Ferris.