Munster forward Paul O'Connell admitted he thought his side were on their way out of the Heineken Cup.
Relief all round as Munster come good late on
Munster forward Paul O'Connell admitted he thought his side were on their way out of the Heineken Cup for the first time in the qualfying stages after their last-gasp victory over Clermont Auvergne.
The champions scored two lates tries to seal a 23-13 triumph that sent them to the top of Pool One and left the French side without even the consolation of a bonus point.
"That's probably the closest we've come to going out," O'Connell said. "Clermont are an excellent side. I thought they played excellently today and excellently last week. Maybe we let them play a little bit but they're a very good side.
"We're very happy to get out of there with a win. We knew they'd come out strong like they last week. They've some fabulous players but they also play with a lot of heart as well.
"You could see that today. They've a bit of both, very similar to ourselves. They play a very good game and they play with heart.
Delighted
"We'd no doubt about today and how tough it was going to be. I wish it wouldn't have been as tight as that but we're delighted to get the win."
"We found it hard to get territory and we found it hard to get our hands on the ball. I don't know how many lineouts we had in the second half - we didn't seem to have that many.
"Then when we did have possession, we made a few little errors. The ball was so precious in the second half, we didn't want to be letting that happen. We needed to hold onto the ball, make them defend a little bit like they were doing to us but unfortunately we didn't do that."
O'Connell was involved in a brawl that saw him sin-binned and Jamie Cudmore sent off, but the Irishman said it was not out of disrespect for the opposition.
"I saw him (Cudmore) going for Jerry (Flannery) on the ground, so I went to grab him, and pull him off Jerry," he added.
"I think he had three punches in on me before I knew it. That's it, but we've kissed and made up already!
"These things happen. They're a team that play with a lot of heart and passion and these things will happen in rugby matches.
"I've a lot of respect for them, the way they played today and the way they played in the last few weeks."
Moving forward
Clermont coach Vern Cotter said that when the disappointment of the defeat fades away he will view the performance as a positive for the side's long term development.
"We have to look at the positive side of that game," he said. "Teams like Munster help teams grow," he added.
"I'm sure we'll get over the initial disappointment and have a look at it analytically and see if we can improve certain parts of our game. We'll move forward again.
"There is a lot of emotion in the dressing room now but I need to look at the facts. We need to sit back and look at decisions.
"It wasn't just Brock James' (missed) drop at goal near the finish. There was another kick that went in-field as well.
"I need to look at the video to give a more analytical response, but from a coaching perspective, I'm disappointed for the players. I'm disappointed we didn't mange to control those last few minutes."
