Coming to the boil nicely

Even by their own exacting standards Munster can go into the mid-season hiatus from the Heineken Cup content with a job well done. They may have Castres breathing down their necks, and thus may yet have to win all six pool games to ensure a home quarter-final or even just reach the last eight, but they're one of only four unbeaten sides in the competition and couldn't have done much more.

It took Munster a while to hit their stride here and in a curious way it required the sin binning of Marcus Horan to make them roll their sleeves up, apply the basics and duly make the breakthrough with the game's crucial first try through Mike Mullins' deft chip and a typical piece of loaves-and-fishes opportunism from the under-used Anthony Horgan.

Once Bridgend fell for the sucker punch of Ronan O'Gara's crosskick and John Kelly's try for the second week running the Welsh visitors had barely a passing interest in the scoreline.

The pernickety might question Munster's relative lack of clinicalness as an ill-disciplined Bridgend oscillated between 13, 14 or, briefly, 15 men in the second period. Nonetheless, Jeremy Staunton's strength and reach, Jason Holland's strength and Mullins' acceleration (the in-form centre's seventh try in eight Munster starts this season) ensured a reasonable haul, especially given the constant interruptions.

An utterly joyless Bridgend brought little to the party, save a clear policy of spoiling. At virtually every Munster lineout drive a Bridgend forward was prostrate as the catcher came to ground, thereby bringing down mauls indiscriminately. Their tacklers made little attempt to roll away and their defensive line paid little or no attention to the hindmost foot in persistently pushing up quickly from an offside position.

In this they were scarcely discouraged by Didier Mene, who, in contrast, marshalled the breakdown with an incessant stream of penalties for the ball carrier either not releasing within a split second or maybe two of going to ground, or for the tacklers not rolling away.

A tally of one red card and four yellow for Bridgend, along with two yellow for Munster was highly excessive, for while it was a niggly match it wasn't dirty per se. Certainly, the yellow card against the Bridgend out-half Craig Warlow for a rather high smother tackle on O'Gara looked ridiculously harsh, as was the late one against Jim Williams, supposedly for preventing release after the tackle (even though the ball was released), and which seemed more like a case of an embarrassed official trying to appear even-handed.

Tellingly, Bridgend chairman Derrick King pointed out they hadn't had a red card in the previous three seasons and last season they received only six yellow cards in the entire campaign. Furthermore, Williams had never been yellow-carded before in his career, and the deserving man-of-the-match recipient was roared off the pitch.

Asked about the exact tally of cards against his players, Bridgend coach Dennis John flippantly remarked: "One red and a case of jaundice." Not that the French official's excessiveness can remotely excuse Bridgend's increasingly dark mood for when the spoiling failed them, they just spoiled for a fight. A slightly mystified and sheepish John admitted that on the day Bridgend "let ourselves down", commenting: "Looking at the mist rolling in I think it descended on our players as well."

Munster, to their credit, rarely reacted and tellingly, it was their discipline in the face of repeated provocation which most pleased Declan Kidney, rather than the victory margin, the five tries, or anything else.

Mick Galwey agreed that in similar circumstance four or five years ago "we would probably have lost our heads, too, but we're very conscious of the need to keep our discipline now". Indeed, thinking back to, say the intemperate quarter-final defeat to Colomiers three seasons ago, from something of an Achilles' heel, their discipline has become a virtue under Kidney.

There was discipline, of course, in the way Munster kept on playing their rugby as well as many other satisfying elements in the performance. Apart from a brief first-half hiccup, the lineouts went well, with Frankie Sheahan having another all-action display. The scrums also went well, and while Horan's occasional lack of cool is an abiding concern, his dummy and sway of the hips to kickstart the drive for Staunton's well-taken try is beyond the remit of most props in the world.

So while plenty of the established virtues remain, Anthony Foley in command yet seemingly in cruise control, Peter Stringer's service and unstinting covering and tackling, along with O'Gara's place-kicking, line-kicking and restarts, for example, new ones are being seamlessly added to the mix.

Aside from Horan, there was Paul O'Connell's impressive first European start, further proof, if needed, of Williams' physical presence and sharp football brain and the first inklings of the added weaponry Rob Henderson will bring in his debut cameo.

With his first touch, the Irish centre took the ball up the middle and in trademark fashion added a couple of yards in contact to ensure go-forward ball; Foley punching a further hole before Mullins scored off the next recycle. Just like that. Hendo is here.

They're coming to the boil nicely.

Scoring sequence: 3 mins - Warlow pen 0-3; 10 - Warlow dp gl 3-3; 10 - Warlow pen 3-6; Horgan try, O'Gara con 10-6; 39 - O'Gara pen 13-6; 40 - O'Gara pen 16-6; (half-time 16-6); 42 - Kelly try 21-6; 50 - Staunton try, O'Gara con 28-6 ; 61 - Holland try 33-6; 69 - Mullins try, O'Gara con 40-6.

MUNSTER: J Staunton; J Kelly, M Mullins, J Holland, A Horgan; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes, M Galwey (capt), P O'Connell, J Williams, A Foley, A Quinlan. Replacements - (temp) J Blaney for Sheahan (18-28 mins), (temp) P Clohessy for Williams (29-39), P Clohessy for Hayes (51), R Henderson for Kelly (65), M O'Driscoll for Galwey (70), K Keane for Staunton (76), C McMahon for Foley (78). Sinbinned - Horan (28-39 mins), Williams (79).

BRIDGEND: A Durston; G Jones, G Thomas, J Devereux, Daniel Jones; C Warlow, J Hewlett; C Loader, G Williams, C Noon, Deiniol Jones, C Stephens, N Budgett, R Bryan, J Ringer. Replacements - J Thiel for Noon (59 mins), H Harries for Bryan (71), P Clapham for Stephens (81). Sinbinned - Devereux (39-49 mins), Warlow (60-70), R Bryan (45-55), J Ringer (75). Sent-off - Hewlett (67 mins).

Referee: D Mene (France).