KEY POINTS:
Munster have to dwell on their 30-year history against the All Blacks for a while longer. They were just over four minutes from adding another fairytale chapter when All Black wing Joe Rokocoko closed the book on their search for another night in the region's rugby history.
Given
a metre of space it was a case of Rokocoko pitched up against his old Auckland and Blues teammate and Munster's million dollar import Doug Howlett for the game. Howlett covered the touchline but offered his inside shoulder and the Rocket Man did not need a second invitation.
He brushed through the tackle, belted through Peter Stringer's covering lunge and the All Blacks had squeaked home 18-16.
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As much as the entire city and the bulk of the 26,000 fortunate enough to get into the new Thomond Stadium urged on their rugby favourites, the reality was that a professional international rugby side should always torpedo the local hopes.
Munster were the top club side in Europe with a record of winning nine of their last 10 matches but no matter their pedigree they were still a club combination and should not have been in the same class as the midweek All Blacks. And so it came to pass.
But what a struggle. There were two sides to the match analysis which may go on for another 30 years as the bars and clubs in Limerick disgorge their theories about the match.
Munster played with great accuracy, heart and tenacious consistency. They never conceded any part of the game, they showed far better application than the tourists who were unable to impose any rhythm or pattern on the match. They were erratic, ill-disciplined and gave every indication they were spooked by Munster.
Only cyclopsian optimists really gave Munster a chance before the match. The best verdict you could prise out of a local was a gallant but close defeat. Those people envisaged Munster hanging on all game, whereas it was the All Blacks who were in that role for the bulk of the match.
The occasion was memorable and had been from the time the All Blacks hit the city. It may have been an adidas-fuelled event with both sides under the same sponsorship umbrella but it was some occasion.
The pre-match tension increased when Munster's quartet of Kiwis performed a haka to which the All Blacks responded. It was not the same when the match eventually got under way, certainly not for the first half.
Munster got a roll on, they got a whiff of the magic formula their forebears had all those years ago. They made fewer mistakes, they went through the middle, they kicked to the corners and made most of their tackles.
Meanwhile the All Blacks were suckered into scatterball rugby, flinging the ball wide too often where they offered easy tackling practice for the feverish Munstermen. It appeared as though they thought they only had to shift the ball to win. If those were their flimsy thoughts, they needed drastic alteration at halftime as the tourists faced a 16-10 deficit.
They clawed their way back but it was slow, tortuous progress with the level of relief very visible when Rokocoko took the chance for victory near the end.
