THEY HAVE it, the stuff of champions, and that's why they're the champions of Europe. Reflecting on "one of the toughest games I ever played in", Clermont's Australian outhalf, Brock James, deduced: "But that's what you expect in this tournament but particularly against Munster.

"It was the first time I played here and it was an amazing experience, something you don't get every week you play rugby. We were reduced to 14 men for almost 60 minutes and that made it a bit tougher.

"I was proud of our performance; it didn't surprise me that much because I feel we are a courageous as well as a talented team. We stepped up when the going got tough, stepped up and had a really good go."

James admitted things were looking good for Clermont until those last four minutes.

"Any team with the ability to soak up pressure as they did and then respond with a couple of tries and 12 points to win it has to be given credit; I guess that's what makes them the type of team that can win championships - they've got that winning habit and they can never be considered beaten until the final whistle goes," said James.

Munster are always respectful of the opposition (it's one of their key strengths) and the mutual admiration was in bountiful supply. One can rarely recall Paul O'Connell eulogising an another team so repeatedly.

"They're an excellent side, they played excellently last week and again today. Perhaps we let them play a little too much. We're very happy to get out of there with a win," said O'Connell.

"We knew they'd come out strong like last week. They're a really good side, fabulous players.

"They play with a lot of heart, you see that today. They play like ourselves, a little bit of both. We'd no doubt how tough today would be, although we wish it wouldn't be so hard.

"Hopefully this will bring us on. It's never plain sailing, they're a good side. We just dug deep, there was no real panic, nobody doing anything crazy in there. We were just trying to keep our heads, get some territory and get our hands on the ball.

"And once we did, we created holes. There was a really good try there, Marcus at the end, a really good bit of play there. It's a pity we didn't do that more often in the second half."

As for his little altercation with Jamie Cudmore, O'Connell shook his head and smiled at the memory of it: "Jesus, I don't know what happened. I saw him going for Jerry Flannery (though it was actually Horan) on the ground, I went to grab him away from Jerry, then he had three punches on me before I knew it. That's it. Kissed and made up already, these things happen.

"They play with a lot of heart and passion. These things happen in rugby matches. I've a lot of respect for them the way they've played the last few weeks. I look forward to their performance against Sale."

You wonder what it is that, mentally and spiritually, keeps Munster going and helped them engineer such a dramatic late turnaround, and David Wallace verified that there was no sense of fear of defeat or panic. "No, no, no, you just keep playing, you just keep playing, you just keep playing when you're out there," said Wallace, who said it may have been the toughest, most physical Heineken European Cup game he had played in. "If you're behind like that, you keep playing and hope something will happen, get a penalty or Rog will drop back for a DG. I don't think anyone was contemplating going out.

"It was all about taking that kick-off. Fair play to Niall Ronan, he took two fabulous kick-offs there at the end. It's a problem for us in the past, after scoring a massive game-turning score we lose the restart."

Of Ronan's try, with typical modesty, Wallace said in reference to his fellow backrower's two years on the Meath minors: "Fantastic, showed his GAA skills. He's an unbelievable athlete and footballer. I think I was ahead of him for the kick, and about 20 metres behind him when he scored so I'm just happy he ran on to it." Ronan himself admitted he hadn't "been this tired in a long while". "With 15 minutes left, I was blowing. Every time we attacked them, they'd counter-attack and we'd have to run the length of the pitch to defend. It was tough, but we weren't going to let our fans down.

"We knew we were capable of doing it but you never know in this competition. They're an unbelievable side.

"I had a look, I saw the prop and Rog actually said to me go for the chip.

"So I chipped it and luckily enough I was quick enough to get to the ball.

"Great to get the win. They're a great team, even with 14 men."