O'Connell put to the pin of his collar

Munster v Clermont Auvergne reaction: Paul O'Connell feels this afternoon's clash with Clermont Auvergne was the closest he has felt to exiting the Heineken Cup in the pool stages since he first broke into the Munster side.

The European champions left it very late to snatch a 23-13 victory from under the noses of the French team, scoring two tries in a four-minute spell to send the Top 14 club home without the consolation of a bonus point.

"That's probably the closest we've come to going out," O'Connell admitted, with Munster now back on track to qualify for the quarter-finals for the 11th successive year.

"Clermont are an excellent side. I thought they played excellently today and excellently last week. Maybe we let them play a little bit but they're a very good side.

"We're very happy to get out of there with a win. We knew they'd come out strong like they last week. They've some fabulous players but they also play with a lot of heart as well.

"You could see that today. They've a bit of both, very similar to ourselves. They play a very good game and they play with heart. We'd no doubt about today and how tough it was going to be. I wish it wouldn't have been as tight as that but we're delighted to get the win."

Munster were denied possession for long stretches of the game as Clermont stretched the home side's defensive capabilities to the limit, especially in the second half.

"We found it hard to get territory and we found it hard to get our hands on the ball. I don't know how many lineouts we had in the second half — we didn't seem to have that many.

"Then when we did have possession, we made a few little errors. The ball was so precious in the second half, we didn't want to be letting that happen. We needed to hold onto the ball, make them defend a little bit like they were doing to us but unfortunately we didn't do that."

O'Connell was also at the centre of the first half's most controversial moment when, after a bout of fisticuffs with Jamie Cudmore, the Clermont lock was sent off while the Munster skipper was sin-binned.

"I saw him (Cudmore) going for Jerry (Flannery) on the ground, so I went to grab him, and pull him off Jerry. I think he had three punches in on me before I knew it. That's it, but we've kissed and made up already!

"These things happen. They're a team that play with a lot of heart and passion and these things will happen in rugby matches. I've a lot of respect for them, the way they played today and the way they played in the last few weeks and I'm looking forward to their performance against Sale."

Meanwhile, Clermont Auvergne coach Vern Cotter said he was proud of his side but disappointed to concede two tries to Marcus Horan and Niall Ronan in the closing minutes.

"I don't think the players got a just reward after putting in some good footie for 60-odd minutes with one player down," said Cotter. "I'm disappointed for them really. We just needed to have one more possession and keep it, and we probably could have sneaked away with a victory here.

"We didn't, so that's testament to Munster as well — they got the ball back and scored. The second try . . .  well, I felt that one was difficult to swallow as well to be honest.

"All in all, it was a good arm-wrestle. In fact, it went past arm-wrestling at one stage and went to something else which cost us a player!"

Cotter insisted the experience of pushing the European champions to the pin of their collars at Thomond Park will stand Clermont in good stead in the long term.

"We have to look at the positive side of that game. Teams like Munster help teams grow," he added. "I'm sure we'll get over the initial disappointment and have a look at it analytically and see if we can improve certain parts of our game. We'll move forward again.

"There is a lot of emotion in the dressing room now but I need to look at the facts. We need to sit back and look at decisions.

"It wasn't just Brock James' (missed) drop at goal near the finish. There was another kick that went in-field as well.

"I need to look at the video to give a more analytical response, but from a coaching perspective, I'm disappointed for the players. I'm disappointed we didn't mange to control those last few minutes."

Cotter also said his initial reaction was that the sending-off of Canadian international Cudmore was an unbalanced decision.

"I will have to look at footage. Obviously everyone thought the game was over when we had to play against 15 having only 14 on the paddock.

"Perhaps the Munster players thought the game was over as well — credit to our boys, they came back into it.

"I always find it difficult when these decisions have such a big effect on a game, and the decision must be justified to have balance.

"I thought the red card and yellow card was a fairly imbalanced decision. We need to look at footage and be objective about it."