This was a cleansing night in the sheeting rain.
Defeat to Zebre, a week of crisis talk in the media and the looming prospect of a date with Leinster in Croke Park focused the minds and, with Jack Crowley, Tadhg Beirne and Peter O’Mahony back on deck, they looked a much better team than they had in weeks one or two of the URC.
The only downside for Graham Rowntree was the injuries that forced Oli Jager and O’Mahony off inside the first 22 minutes, while Mike Haley and Calvin Nash limped off in the last 10.
The coach is already dealing with a lengthy absentee list and a contingent away with Emerging Ireland, he didn’t need more headaches.
What will please him most was a return to Munster’s core values on a night when the rain swept in from the south and threatened to submerge everything.
Their handling held up better than the visitors, their work in contact was far better and their set-piece was dominant.
Crowley and Craig Casey controlled things brilliantly, Tom Farrell gave them a spark and the forwards tore into their Welsh visitors led by captain Beirne.
After shipping 11 tries in the first two games of the season against Connacht and Zebre, they will be most satisfied with the zero beside a strong Ospreys’ side’s name on the scoreboard.
In fairness, the Welsh side threw everything at them and nothing went their way. You’d have forgiven them for wanting a plane home when they conceded a try after 11 minutes, but they kept going until the end.
The rain was biblical. On the nearby Kinsale Road roundabout there was a fire engine pumping surface water as drivers held their breath and drove through the water, while pedestrians gulped as they left the safety of the path and waded their way towards the turnstiles.
Before the game ground-staff brushed surface water from the artificial turf as broadcasters considered their camera positions, journalists and analysts prayed their laptops would survive the swirling rain and everyone and everything felt soaked through.
And yet, the show went on.
Those 8,936 ticket holders who took their chances and braved the conditions were treated to a try within 11 seconds as Owen Watkin spilled Jack Crowley’s kick-off and Shay McCarthy was first to react as he scooped the ball up and dived over.
Crowley’s conversion caught the wind and drifted wide, but Munster’s intent was there for all to see when the opening try-scorer thundered into Iestyn Hopkins to set the physical tone.
The Ireland out-half wasn’t shirking his responsibility in that department and he got over the ball, forcing Phil Cokanasiga into a croc-roll, and sent the penalty over to make it 8-0.
On a night when handling errors were an occupational hazard, it was handy for Munster to have a dominant scrum and a functioning lineout despite their injuries.
A combination of the two delivered their second try as Crowley went to the corner off a scrum penalty and again after a maul infringement, and it was centre Tom Farrell who joined the drive, ripped the ball from Niall Scannell and found a gap to score.
Again, Crowley missed a tough conversion but Munster were the dominant force and they made it pay on the stroke of half-time after turning down another penalty to go to the corner.
The forwards showed good hands to retain possession through a long series of close in carries, before the referee signalled advantage and Craig Casey slung a Jamison Gibson-Parkesque pass out to Calvin Nash to score.
Munster showed their grit after the break when the Ospreys edged the scrum battle, then forced a ruck penalty and went to the corner.
First, Jack O’Donoghue did enough to spoil the lineout and prevent a drive and then a contingent of forwards forced a penalty by piling into a breakdown, allowing Crowley to relieve the pressure.
With the wind behind them, the Welsh side were getting on top but another visit to the ’22 was met with fierce resistance and Beirne forced another penalty.
The captain was leading from the front and his team and the crowd were responding, but the one thing missing was a bonus point try and the scrum gave them the platform to go and get it by forcing another penalty.
Crowley kicked them to the edge of the ’22 and this time it was their handling that unlocked the Ospreys, using a pre-planned move with Jack O’Donoghue cleverly sending McCarthy through a gap and the winger repaid the favour with an excellent offload to send the No 8 over.
They spent the last 10 minutes battling in their own ’22, down a man once Stephen Archer was sin-binned and with a forward in the backline due to injury, but they managed to hold the Ospreys at bay.
Scorers:
Munster: S McCarthy, T Farrell, C Nash, J O’Donoghue try each, J Crowley pen;
TEAMS:
MUNSTER: M Haley (T Butler 71); C Nash (J Daly 73), T Farrell, B Fitzgerald, S McCarthy; J Crowley, C Casey (C Murray 56); J Loughman (J Ryan 64), N Scannell (D Barron 56), O Jager (S Archer 14); J Kleyn (F Wycherley 64), T Beirne (capt); P O’Mahony (G Coombes 23), J Hodnett (J Loughman 79, J O’Donoghue.
OSPREYS: M Nagy; I Hopkins, O Watkin (K Williams 68), P Cokanasiga, R Conbeer; D Edwards, R Morgan-Williams (L Davies 66); S Thomas (G Phillips 58), D Lake (S Parry 58), B Warren (M Iorwerth-Scott 58); H Sutton, A Beard (L Jones 67); J Ratti, J Morgan (capt) M Morris (H Deaves 58).
REF: M Adamson (Scotland)
