A last gasp Ronan O’Gara penalty moments after Munster had slipped a point behind, gave them an 18-16 win over The Scarlets at Parc Y Stradey.
And after he had edged them in front, the captain on the day then blocked down a Ceiron’s Thomas drop goal attempt to earn his side a hard fought victory.
Munster went in front with an O’Gara penalty after just three minutes and they held that lead until the 21st when Rhys Priestland equalised. In the closing stages of the half Ian Dowling and then Denis Leamy crossed for tries the second converted from out wide by O’Gara for a 15-3 interval lead.
In the second half Priestland landed two penalties to edge Scarlets closer and then after Donncha O’Callaghan had been yellow carded by referee James Jones, a late replacement for traffic jam victim Peter Allen, Scarlets were awarded a penalty try.
Three minutes remained on the clock when Munster drove into the Scarlets 22 and when they forced the penalty, O’Gara ignored the boos and cat calls to knock over the winning penalty
Munster: P Warwick; D Howlett, K Earls, L Mafi, I Dowling; R O’Gara, T O’Leary (P Stringer 68 min); M Horan (F Pucciariello 65 min), F Sheahan (D Fogarty 60 min) T Buckley; D O’Callaghan, M O’Driscoll; D Ryan, N Ronan, D Leamy (J Coughlan 74 min),. Replacements not used. J O’Sullivan, A Horgan, B Murphy.
Scarlets: Morgan Stoddart; D Daniel or M Jacob, R King, G Evans, J Davies; R Priestland, S Martens; I Thomas, K Owens, K Meeuws, V Cooper, D Day, N Thomas, D Lyons, S Easterby. Replacements: D Manu, M Schwalger, P John, R McCusker, J Edwards, G Cattle, C Thomas.