It started with a numbingly ordinary first half, and ended old school, in front of 22,000+ noisy spectators, with a penalty to the corner and surge for the Damien Varley try that gave Munster a bonus that didn’t look remotely likely with less than ten minutes to go.

Munster dominated this game from start to finish and to such an extent that Edinburgh visits to their opponents 22 were as rare as hen's teeth.

Despite all their dominance however they were only 6-0 up at half time and with 71 minutes gone had just one try scored as they held an unassailable 16-0 lead.

But by then Edinburgh were totally out on their feet and tries from Peter O'Mahony, the ever impressive Sean Dougal and replacement Varley earned the bonus that could be every bit as valuable as they one they took from Paris.

With the November internationals approaching , watching Ireland coach Declan Kidney will have been delighted with the form of Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan who almost latched onto an Ian Keatley cross-field kick – on the wing of all places – mid way through the first half for what would have been a spectacular try.

Conor Murray put the horror of Paris firmly behind him with an error free authoritative display, Dougall will have caught the eye of the Ireland boss and so too Dave Kilcoyne whose progress under Paul McCarthy has been impressive.

Keatley kicked Munster into a 4th minute lead but was badly wide from close in with his next effort and on the money with a second in the 24th minute.
Murray did well to score under the posts in the 51st minute and added a penalty six minutes later. But they were almost through the final quarter before they ratcheted it up to run in three tries, Keatley proving the inspiration for the Dougal one and Varley scoring off a rehearsed line-out move.

Speaking afterwards Rob Penney agreed that a similar performance would, 'probably not' be good enough when Saracens visit in Round 3. "We just hadn't capitalised and got the rewards," he said Penney of the first half performance.

"We needed to improve on our ball security, our ability to capitalise on the space that's provided for us, and that space happened on about five or six occasions today."

“The bonus point could be really important,” he continued. “We’ve a couple of massive games before Christmas so we’re masters of our own destiny in that regard. If we do well, we’re in the hunt whether we get bonus points or not. We still have to beat Saracens to keep ourselves in it. Than was always the case."

Munster. D Hurley; D Howlett (F Jones 66), C Laulala, J Downey (JJ Hanrahan 73), S Zebo; I Keatley, C Murray; D Kilcoyne (M Horan 79), M Sherry (D Varley 63), BJ Botha; D O'Callaghan (P Butler 73), P O'Connell (B Holland 61); D Ryan, S Dougall, P O'Mahony.

Edinburgh. G Tonks; L Jones, N De Luca, B Atiga (M Scott 13), T Brown; G Hunter (D Fife 66), R Rees; J Yapp (R Hislop 76), R Ford (A Titterrell 76), G Cross (WP Nel h-t); G Gilchrist, S Cox (R McAlpine 75); D Denton, S McInally, N Talei (D Basilaia 51).

Referee: W Barnes (England)