They looked a beaten docket as they trailed the home side 18-17 with four minutes remaining. But then, awarded a penalty on half way, they went for position and won line-out possession that provided the opportunity for Laulala to work his magic.

It was a game they looked to have left behind after they trailed by a single point when Lewis Jones scored his side's second try in the 63rd minute. The home side then kept Munster contained in their own half, a ploy that seemed likely to succeed until those dramatic late stages. And if the Blues could argue that they were unlucky then credit too to this Munster side who never lost faith in themselves.

After Jason Tovey had opened the scoring with a 7th minute penalty Munster got on the board with a delightfully worked try from Tommy O'Donnell who got on the end of a move involving Sean Dougal initially then Laulala and finally Ian Keatley who delivered the scoring pass.

Munster then lost two players in the space of nine minutes, Ronan O'Gara to the sin bin and Sean Dougal to inury in the 24th minute, replaced by Paddy Butler.
Just after he returned, O'Gara gained good yardage with a penalty from half way to inside the Blues 22 and when the home defence was once again stretched he extended the lead with a penalty.

Ceri Sweeney, an early second half replacement for Jason Tovey tied the game up with his conversion of Dafydd Hewitt's 45th minute try at the end of a bout of Blues pressure and shortly after edged his side in front with a penalty.

A superb O'Donnell try under the posts converted by O'Gara put Munster back in front but the topsy-turvey nature of the contest continued when Peter Stringer's attempted clearance was blocked and Lewis Jones kicked through and got the touchdown for an 18-17 lead.

Cardiff retained that lead right and had Munster pinned in their own half right until the end when they coughed up a penalty on half way O'Gara found the touchline on the 22 and from an off the top take by Ian Nagle, Laulala crashed through for the winning try.

Munster: F Jones; D Howlett capt, C Laulala, I Keatley, L O'Dea; R O'Gara, D Williams; M Horan, M Sherry, S Archer; D Foley, B Holland; Dave O'Callaghan, S Dougall, T O'Donnell. Replacements: S Henry, J Ryan, W du Preez, I Nagle, P Butler, P Stringer, D Barnes, J Murphy.

Cardiff Blues: D Fish; T Williams, G Evans, D Hewitt, T James; J Tovey, L Jones; C Ma'afu, R Williams, T Filise, L Reed, J Down, R Copeland, A Pretorius capt, J Navidi. Replacements: A Kyriacou, S Hobbs, R Harford, M Cook, L Hamilton, R Lewis, C Sweeney, Owen Williams