A late Jean de Villiers try converted by Ronan O’Gara who also added five penalties saw Munster see off the gritty challenge of Glasgow Warriors for a 27-19 win in Thomond Park Stadium.
After a very closely contested game, the outcome sealed by that superbly taken de Villiers try, it left Munster in second place in the League table a week ahead of their clash with leaders Leinster.
Munster dominated the early exchanges and opened the scoring with a Denis Hurley try in the 5th minute after a half break from Lifeimi Mafi and long cut-out pass from Ian Dowling.
O’Gara’s touchline conversion came back off the left upright but he was on the mark in the 20th minute although it was his pass on the Warriors 22 that was intercepted by John Barclay who ran the length of the pitch to score under the posts leaving Dan Parks with a simple tap over.
O’Gara’s 35th minute penalty sent his side into the break with a slender one point advantage but further successful strikes in the second half pushed Munster seven points clear as the game entered the final quarter and Munster in control.
Warriors had prop Kevin Tkachuk in the 63rd minute and two minutes later O’Gara landed his fifth penalty.
However Parks was on the mark in the 68th and 72nd minutes before de Villers did superbly to squeeze in at the corner and O’Gara nonchalantly stroked over the conversion.
Munster: P Warwick; Hurley, Mafi, de Villiers, Dowling; O’Gara, Stringer; Horan, Fogarty, Brugnaut, O’Callaghan, O’Driscoll, Quinlan, Ronan, Coughlan. Replacements: Howlett for Hurley (35 mins), N Williams for Quinlan (58 mins), Varley for Fogarty (61 mins), D Ryan for Brugnaut (65 mins), Holland for O’Callaghan (73 mins), D Williams for Stringer (78 mins). Not used: Gleeson.
Glasgow Warriors: Stortoni; Murchie, M Evans, Morrison, van der Merwe; Parks, Cusiter; Welsh, Hall, Low, Gray, Turner, Brown, Barclay, Beattie. Replacements: O’Hare for van der Merwe, Vernon for Beattie (both 41 mins), Thomson for Hall (53 mins), Tkachuk for Welsh, Barker for Gray (both 61 mins), Gregor for Cusiter (66 mins). Not used: McMillan.
Referee: James Jones (WRFU).