THEY’RE BACK. On the scale of Munster’s wondrous wins on the road in Europe, this, as Paul O’Connell had to admit, was right up there. In truth, it had to be the best since beating Toulouse in Bordeaux in the 2000 semi-final and possibly even the best of the lot considering where they were going into this contest.

But amid all the soul-searching, they didn’t just become the first side to beat Perpignan in their Stade Aimé Giral citadel for over a year and 24 games, they also made off with a bonus point when Doug Howlett’s try with the final play completed a masterful, 37-14 win.

There was plenty of fury from home fans and players alike, but Munster met fire with fire and no little composure. In a game of trench warfare and hand-to-hand combat, Munster murdered Perpignan.

And they played some smashing rugby, varnishing their efforts with four skilfully worked tries to earn what was an undoubted bonus.

They must still beat Treviso away, no easy feat judging by their home win over Perpignan and 21-18 loss to Northampton on Saturday, and then avenge their opening defeat to the English side in the final round. But they’re in the driving seat now.

“To come to Perpignan on an away trip, especially where they are mentally and where they were in both competitions, and to come away with a win and a bonus point win, was one of the great wins in Munster’s history,” said coach Tony McGahan.

“It’s a competition that obviously means a hell of a lot to us, and I suppose we’ve had enough things thrown at us this season, and to come to an environment like this and really put in a very solid display gives us a lot of confidence.

“But at the same time we need to march on from here, and this can’t be a finishing point. This needs to be a starting point.”

Although Wasps also made off with a bonus point when they registered the last away win in Perpignan in a pool decider six seasons ago – perhaps tellingly, they went on to lift the trophy – it’s doubtful if right now any other side in Europe could have done what Munster achieved yesterday.

“I suppose it has to be right up there, when you consider we were missing two frontrowers (Marcus Horan and Jerry Flannery) with over 100 caps,” said O’Connell. “They’ve only lost to Leicester and to Wasps in the past here, and to pick up a win and a bonus, especially after beating them last week – they would have been highly motivated – it’s a great, great feeling.”

The backrow of David Wallace, Denis Leamy and Alan Quinlan were immense, but the likes of Denis Fogarty and Tony Buckley also contributed to the ferocity and effectiveness of Munster’s work at the breakdown, where their many turnovers probably held the key to the victory. On this evidence, if this is an ageing team, it’s ageing like a good claret.

Asked if the bonus-point win was beyond expectations, McGahan said: “You always believe you can achieve any result with this group of players. I don’t know how many sides you can say that about, but certainly with this group of players you don’t under-estimate them, their character and their pride in Munster rugby.”

Perpignan were fortunate in the extreme that prop Jerome Schuster was merely brandished with a yellow card after what can only be described as a flying head-butt at the prone Denis Leamy, or in touchjudge parlance was described as “head making contact with head”. But that was but a small cavil.

Ulster will feel bitterly disappointed by the weekend’s events. Having been re-routed from snowbound Brussels to the Jean Baudouin Stadium in Paris yesterday, they were beaten 29-16 in their grudge match with Stade Francais. The result leaves Stade four points clear of Ulster and Edinburgh in Pool 4 and favourites to progress in what looks like being a French-dominated last eight.

Leinster’s second successive bonus point win over the dismal Scarlets leaves them tied in Pool 6 with London Irish, who repeated the feat over Brive, on 15 points. Leinster play host Brive and Irish travel to Llanelli in round five before the two meet in what looks certain to be a winner-takes-all shoot-out in the Madejski Stadium on the final weekend in January. It conceivable both will qualify, with the winner of their head-to-head earning a home quarter-final.

“I’m happy that we’re still in it,” said Michael Cheika after the seven-try, 39-7 victory. “There’s no point in being happy now and not being happy at the end. We got ourselves into a hole losing that first game at home and we still have a lot to do to get out of it.

“We used our get-out-of-jail card. We used it down in France last year and we used it too early. We understand that there are still big challenges ahead of us. No one is getting carried away.”

The only blight on Leinster’s landscape in the aftermath of Saturday’s win was what appeared to be a bad calf injury to CJ van der Linde.

“He will get a scan early next week and we will see what we need to do,” said Cheika. “We will be patient. We have got good resources in the frontrow and we are going to use them all anyway.”

It’s also conceivable that Irish will be the only English team, as it were, in the knock-out stages of the Heineken Cup, although Sale’s comeback over Harlequins yesterday keeps them alive behind Toulouse, who are still best placed in Pool 5.

Clermont’s bonus point in their defeat at Leicester would appear to leave them marginal favourites to win out in Pool 3, which also looks like throwing up a best runners-up given the three heavyweights are all on course to take points from their two matches against Viadana.

Biarritz, the only team with a 100 per cent record, look best placed to qualify and earn a home quarter-final after Dimitri Yachvili took his haul to 45 points in the two wins over the Dragons in Saturday’s rearranged match at Parc y Scarlets.

All eyes, then, would appear to fixed on the Madejski Stadium and Thomond Park on the third weekend in January for a couple of English-Irish summit meetings.

The dates and kick-off times will be announced by the ERC tomorrow.