Munster 16 All Blacks 18
KEY POINTS:
Munster have had to wait 30 years to prove 1978 wasn't a fluke. And they went within five minutes of a repeat.
It was a neat step, and a powerful surge by Joe Rokocoko past his old teammate Doug Howlett that won the game for the All Blacks.
Credit to them for finding the means to win a tight game in an arena as hostile as they will come across. All Black teams don't have a tradition of coming through these encounters.
But they found three minutes of clarity to close the deal. A penalty just inside the Munster half could have been shot at goal. Instead, Stephen Donald pumped for the touchline, the ball was won, the forwards drove and then it was swung wide leaving Rokocoko with all the space he needed. It was actually a mistake by Lifeimi Mafi that opened the hole, when the former Taranaki player rushed up leaving a dog leg.
It broke Munster hearts and their fairytale. And the truth is it broke any sense of justice as this was a game Munster deserved to win. At least draw.
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They rattled the All Blacks. They outplayed the All Blacks at the collision and got stuck into them defensively more ferociously than any other side has on this tour.
All they lacked was points in the second half. That was their downfall. It's all very well taking passion and aggression to the contest, but it needs to be converted into something tangible. That's the only way to beat New Zealand because they can, as they did, pull a rabbit out of the hat when they need one.
The All Black management will have been delighted to see Munster test this young New Zealand side to the full. These are the nights when players find out how much they really want to be there; how well they can cope with pressure and a relentless opposition that want the win so much it hurts.
Liam Messam held up well and Cory Jane made good use of the ball when he had it. Others, though, will know they hid, or didn't quite deliver the way they might have lain in bed last night and dreamed of.
That's the beauty of these types of games. They don't allow players to climb into their shells. A test match is the ultimate, but a packed Thomond Park, the locals baying for blood, every man in red ready to be a hero - that can be a career breaker for an All Black hopeful.
Especially as rugby in Munster comes with no frills. It's not sexily packaged, a few fireworks went off before the game, but that was the only nod to the modern ways.
The rest of it comes from the heart. The old songs get a blast, a few scoops of Guinness go down the hatch and then it is old-fashioned scream your larynx hoarse.
That keep it simple approach reflects perfectly the way the team go about their business. They haven't conquered Europe with anything other than grind.
They don't fling the ball about with gay abandon, although they do use it wisely. They are by no means dull to watch, it's just they play with a very definite sense of making every phase count.
The young All Blacks struggled with that. They were itching to open the game up and make it all about pace, flair and finishing. Munster were far too smart for that.
They ran into space when it was there to run into and passed the ball when they were certain it was the right thing to do. Their forwards took it on when they fancied they could go forward and they never tried to play rugby in their own half. It was good, solid football that makes them such a tough side to beat.
They scored a well worked try from a five metre scrum in the first half when they spun the set-piece to the left, to create a massive blindside for Peter Stringer to feed Barry Murphy.
That put the home side ahead 16-10 - Stephen Donald having scored all the All Blacks points in the first half with a try, conversion and penalty - and it ramped the pressure on the visitors.
If Munster had scored early in the second half, they would have been hard to pull back. Thomond Park sweeps the men in red to special deeds, drives them on to give something extra.
They gave it all they had, but they were three minutes short.
New Zealand 18 (Stephen Donald, Joe Rokocoko tries; Donald 2 pen, con) Munster 16 (Barry Murphy try; Paul Warwick 2 pen, dropped goal, con). Halftime: 10-16.
