But what will be particularly disappointing from a Munster point of view if that they left this game empty-handed despite being just five point in arrears with five minutes of time remaining.

After Ronan O'Gara had converted Trevor Halstead's 80th minute try, Munster attacked left but lost possession and Leinster countered for Contempomi to score his second and Leinster's fourth try to give the homeside the bonus point.

Playing into a strong breeze in the opening half Munster were in good position when they trailed by just two points (11-9) with three minutes of normal time to run. And when Leinster moved the ball right it looked like Munster had the move well covered only for Shane Horgan to skip through tackles and end up scoring under the posts.

Earlier on however, Leinster gained what must have been a huge psychological advantage when having resisted a series of Munster forward assaults on their line they went down field and drove over the Munster line from a line-out maul.

In the third quarter Leinster were twice reduced to14 when first Contepomi and then Reggie Corrigan were yellow carded. While Corrigan was cooling his heels, Paul O'Connell scored Munster's opening try and O'Gara's conversion left Munster trailing 21-16.

But once again Contepomi weaved his magic when he gathered his own chip over the Munster three-quarters and score beside the posts.

At 28-16 down, Munster still weren't down with and they put themselves in position to snatch victory with O'Gara's conversion of Halstead's try.

Unfortunately for them another error left that particular ambitions in tatters and a fortuitous bounce from the resultant the kick-ahead gave Contepomi the bonus point try.

Munster: S Payne; J Kelly, B Murphy, G Connolly (T Halstead 64 min), A Horgan; R O'Gara (J Manning 80 min), P Stringer; M Horan, J Flannery, F Pucciariello (J Hayes 52 mins) ; M O'Driscoll (D O'Callaghan 63 min), P O'Connell 78 min); D Leamy, D Wallace, A Foley capt