In the opening half, Cusack was on the mark in the 6th, 20th, 25th and 35th to leave his side leading 12-3 at the break. He added to that with 49th minute penalty, missed his first in the 68th minute but made amends with another good strike with just eight minutes remaining.

They ended the game with 14 men when skipper Peter O'Mahony was yellow carded - following on from Stephen Archer's yellow in the 56th minute - but from the resultant penalty Nottingham opting for the scrum were once again thwarted by a committed and tenacious Munster defence.

Munster: Danny Riordan (UL Bohs); Ciaran O'Boyle (Garryowen), Danny Barnes (Dolphin), Eric Moloney (Dolphin), Sean Scanlon (UCC); Declan Cusack (Thomond), Conor Murray (Garryowen); Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohs), Mike Sherry (Garryowen), Stephen Archer (Cork Con); Ian Nagle (Cork Con), Dave Foley (UL Bohs); Ed Kelly (UL Bohs), Barry O'Mahony (Dolphin), Peter O'Mahony (Cork Con) capt Replacements: Ger Slattery (Young Munster), Pa O'Regan (UL Bohs), Sean Duggan (Shannon), Neville Melbourne (Clonmel), Paul Rowley (UL Bohs), Andrew Burke (UCC), Barry Murphy (UL Bohs).

Nottingham: Andy Savage; Jack Cobden, Tim Streather, Greig Tonks, Donald Blake; Dave Marshall, Dan White; Peter Cook, Greg Sammons, Ben Buxton; Ian Nimmo, Nic Carter; Jonny Baird, Matt Everard, Dan Hemingway.

Replacements: Neil Fowkes, Tom Youngs, Petrus Du Plessis, Nic Rouse, Phil Eggleshaw, Will Nelson, Jamie Barnard.