Munster rule Europe again

Munster are European champions for the second time in three years after grinding out a 16-13 Heineken Cup final victory over Toulouse in Cardiff.

It was a victory built on Munster's dominant pack, who won the turnover battle and played havoc with the Toulouse set piece.

But the entire team defended superbly as Toulouse's dangerous backs were almost completely smothered.

Denis Leamy's close-range try was cancelled out by a moment of brilliance from Cedric Heymans that set up Yves Donguy's try, with the boot of Ronan O'Gara ultimately dividing the teams.

Jean-Baptiste Elissalde was wide with a couple of very makeable kicks in the first quarter, but on such narrow margins are Heineken Cups lost and won.

Top seeds

Skipper Paul O'Connell and flanker Alan Quinlan were at the heart of Munster's effort, ensuring the Irishmen will be top seeds in next season's tournament.

Munster though, despite enjoying an overwhelming following, spent the opening quarter in reverse gear as the three-time former champions dominated.

Elissalde opened their account by landing a seventh minute drop-goal and Munster rarely left their own half in opposition to an impressively organised Toulouse defence.

It was hard graft for Munster during the early exchanges, but they gradually grew into the contest through their forwards' collective effort.

Leamy went agonisingly close 10 minutes before the break, but video referee Derek Bevan ruled he lost control of possession as he went for the touchdown.

It was a narrow escape for the French side, yet it proved only a temporary reprieve as Leamy went over from close range in almost identical fashion just three minutes later, with O'Gara adding the conversion.

Toulouse were rocked by the score, and they lacked sufficient composure to close out a tense first half, a fact underlined when O'Gara booted a penalty to make it 10-3.

Elissalde reduced the gap through an injury-time penalty, but Munster had momentum at the break, leading by four points.

And Toulouse only had themselves to blame for falling further behind after the break, courtesy of another O'Gara penalty.

Sin-binned

Toulouse captain Fabien Pelous was sin-binned by referee Nigel Owens - on the advice of touch judge Nigel Whitehouse - for kicking out petulantly at Quinlan, and O'Gara's kick made it 13-6.

But with the game looking to be slipping away from Toulouse, full-back Cedric Heymans had the courage to kick and chase from deep, and his vision was rewarded against a disorganised Munster defence, as Yannick Jauzion hacked on and Yves Donguy scored.

Elissalde's successful conversion tied the game at 13-13, but scarcely had Pelous returned than the skipper gave away the match-winning penalty.

He failed to roll away from a tackle and O'Gara knocked over the penalty.

The final 15 minutes were tense, but with the Munster's forwards dominating by now, they were able to eat up the clock with no real alarms to give departing coach Declan Kidney the perfect send-off.