The game looked over as a contest when the home side raced into a 21-3 lead with still time left in the opening half and only last gasp defence prevented Ulster going into the break with the bonus point in the bag.

And the crowd waited expectantly for their side to deliver the bonus from the restart but instead saw Munster inch their way back into the game and snatch victory with Jeremy Manning's conversion of Brian Carney's try.

Munster  were put on the back foot from the start and needed a superb tackle from Christian Cullen to prevent Tonny Bowe from scoring. But then Paul Steinmetz crossed for a try followed by Andrew Trimble and Roger Wilson with David Humpreys adding the extras to each while Munster had just a solitary Eoghan Hickey lodged to their account.

It was all change in the second half with Munster taking charge and tries from Trevor Halstead and the quite superb John O'Sullivan putting them right back into contention.

They took the lead when Alan Quinlan executed a cross field kick, that Ronan O'Gara would have been proud of, for Carney to score with five minutes remaining.

Ulster fought back and were awarded a penalty that could have earned them a share of the spoils. However, they opted to go for a line-out five metres out only to find that Munster were not for turning.