Munster strike back

Former Heineken Cup holders Munster bounced back from their opening round defeat with a 36-13 win over Clermont Auvergne on Sunday.

The 2005-06 European champions suffered a 24-23 defeat at Wasps last time out in Pool Five, but never really looked in trouble in front of a partisan crowd at Thomond Park.

Tries from Shaun Payne - making his 100th appearance in a Munster jersey - Rua Tipoki, Brian Carney, Alan Quinlan and Marcus Horan ensured Munster took maximum points from the game to move up to second in the table.

And with Ronan O'Gara superb as ever with the boot they still look real contenders to qualify from this 'group of death'.

Strength

European Challenge Cup winners Clermont made a positive start to the game, but Vilimoni Delasau's yellow card for persistent interference in the ruck eight minutes in proved decisive.

From the resulting penalty Munster captain O'Gara spotted a lack of cover on the right wing and his clever crossfield kick allowed Payne to run in for a simple first try, which the fly-half then converted to hand his side a 7-0 lead.

Seremai Bai, playing at fly-half, kicked Clermont onto the board on 12 minutes though, reducing the deficit to four despite being a man light.

Both defences then withstood great pressure as the half drew on, as O'Gara and Bai traded penalties. But the French line was pierced again in first half injury-time when Tipoki latched on to Denis Leamy's offload from the scrum and showed good feet to put Munster 17-3 up at the interval, thanks to O'Gara's conversion.

Pressure

Munster came out in dominant fashion after the restart and with the wind behind them O'Gara was running things.

The home side's persistent attack was finally rewarded on 51 minutes when Peter Stringer fed O'Gara off the scrum. And the skipper then fed Payne to send a long pass out to Carney for the third try and with O'Gara's conversion extend Munster's lead to 24-6.

South African centre Marius Joubert charged down Tipoki's attempted clearance with 15 minutes remaining, to score Clermont's first try, and Bai's conversion reduced the deficit to 11 points.

Munster scrum-half Stringer put his opposite number off playing the ball out of the scrum in the dying minutes and Alan Quinlan pounced for a fourth converted try to the home side.

And with the bonus point secured there was still time for Horan to go over for an emphatic 36-13 victory for the Reds.