History Timeline

The spoils are shared with Australia on the first visit of the Wallabies to Limerick.

A late scoring burst fails to save Canada as they go under to a determined home side at Musgrave Park.

Munster line out against New Zealand in Thomond Park and are defeated 6-3 by the touring side.

Success at last – Tom Kiernan leads Munster to an 11-8 victory over Australia at Musgrave Park – in doing so they became the first Irish province to defeat a major touring team.

Argentina are held to a draw following a tempestuous match in Limerick – the following autumn a last minute penalty goal by full back Trevor Morris snatches a dramatic 3-3 draw for New Zealand at Musgrave Park.

Munster 12 New Zealand 0 – enough said.

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The Australians are defeated for the second time following a vintage performance from Tony Ward at Musgrave Park.

New ground is broken when the province under took a three match tour of Romania.

The Wallabies return to the Cork venue twelve years later, on this occasion as World champions, but the result is the same, courtesy of a sensational injury time drop goal by Jim Galvin – Munster claim the spoils!

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Pat Murray plays a captains part as he leads his side to victory over Swansea in their initial match in the Heineken Cup at Thomond Park.

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The Heineken Cup final is reached but victory goes to Northampton Saints, albeit by the narrowest of margins, in the Twickenham decider.

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Leicester Tigers hold out in a controversial finish to deprive Munster the laurels in the Heineken Cup final at Cardiff.

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The Celtic League is won following victory over Neath, the Welsh All Blacks are well beaten at the finish of an entertaining final in Cardiff.

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The now defunct Celtic Cup is won at the expense of the Llanelli Scarlets at Lansdowne Road

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An emotional occasion at the Millennium Stadium ends in victory as Munster are crowned Champions of Europe after victory over a gallant Biarritz side.

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Further success as Toulouse are beaten in the decider at the Millennium Stadium and the Heineken Cup returns to the province for the second time in three seasons.

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Munster are crowned the 2009 Magners League Champions at Thomond Park. 

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Munster win the 2010/11 Magners League title by defeating Leinster in the Grand Final at Thomond Park.

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Munster are knocked out of the Heineken Cup at quarter final stage, suffering a home defeat to Ulster. Ospreys then do the damage at the semi final stage of the RaboDirect PRO12. A younger Munster side produced the only silverware by claiming the British and Irish Cup at Musgrave Park.

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The province reach the Heineken Cup semi final stage for the sixth time in the competition’s history and are knocked out by Clermont Auvergne in a thrilling 16-10 encounter at Stade de la Mosson in Montpellier.

The game was to be Ronan O’Gara’s last outing in a Munster jersey as he bid an emotional farewell to the travelling supporters that day.

The league performances for the season resulted in a disappointing sixth place finish in the table. In addition to O’Gara, fellow senior players such as Doug Howlett and Marcus Horan retired while Peter Stringer moved to Premiership club side Bath Rugby.

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Munster reach the knock-out stages of Europe once again and this time face Toulon in Marseille in their seventh Heineken Cup semi final. The French side win 24-16 and went on to win the competition.

The province also reached the semi final of the RaboDirect PRO12 and disappointingly suffered a one point defeat, 16-15, to Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun Stadium. It was to be the last game for the coaching duo of Head Coach Rob Penney and Backs Coach Simon Mannix.

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Munster legend Anthony Foley took up the Head Coach role with Mick O’Driscoll, Brian Walsh, Ian Costello and Jerry Flannery completing the coaching team.

Foley led Munster to the PRO12 final after finishing joint top of the table with Glasgow before defeating the Ospreys 21-18 at Thomond Park in the semi-final.

Glasgow emerged victorious in the Kingspan Stadium final thanks to a 31-13 victory in May 2015 as silverware eluded Munster once again.

A very tough Champions Cup group saw Munster eliminated at the Pool stage with eventual finalists Clermont Auvergne and semi-finalists Saracens advanced with Munster third in Pool 1 with 15 points.

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The 2015/16 campaign started very well with seven wins from eight but a mid-season slump saw Munster exit the Champions Cup and fall out of contention in the Guinness PRO12.

Munster once again finished third in their Pool with 15 points as semi-finalists Leicester Tigers and Stade Francais advanced.

The side closed out the season strongly with vital wins over Edinburgh and the Scarlets to secure Champions Cup rugby for the following season.

Rassie Erasmus joined the province as Director of Rugby with Head Coach Anthony Foley, Jacques Nienaber, Jerry Flannery and Felix Jones formed the coaching team.

Six wins from the opening seven games made for an excellent start but the tragic events that unfolded in Paris on October 16 saw rugby pale into insignificance as Anthony Foley passed away unexpectedly.

The squad somehow regrouped after the tragic loss of their Head Coach and friend, reaching the Champions Cup semi-final and Guinness PRO12 final.

Eventual winners Saracens triumph in the European semi-final at the Aviva Stadium with Scarlets claiming the PRO12 title at the same venue.

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New Head Coach Johann van Graan joined the province in November with Defence Coach JP Ferreira arriving in December as Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber returned to the South Africa national team.

Munster reached the Champions Cup quarter-finals for a record 17th time and defeated Toulon at Thomond Park before losing out to Racing 92 in the Bordeaux semi-final, 27-22.

The province finished second in Conference A of the Guinness PRO14 but suffered a narrow semi-final loss to Leinster at the RDS.

After topping pool 2 of the Champions Cup, Munster went onto reach the Champions Cup semi-final stage for a record 14th time, going down to the eventual European Champions, Saracens, at the Ricoh.

The province finished second in Conference A of the Guinness PRO14 but suffered another semi-final loss to Leinster at the RDS.

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