HEINEKEN CUP POOL ONE: Clermont 25 Munster 19: ALMOST AN exact reprise of last January's Sunday afternoon meeting in the same ground, when Munster left breathless but relieved to have procured a bonus point that ultimately proved crucial.

They did so again here after Clermont had once more threatened to blow them away - albeit later on in the fray - yet their relief will be tinged more with disappointment this time around.

Overall, much of Munster's performance - especially in the first-half and in their late rally - was another triumph for Tony McGahan and the coaching staff, and further evidence of how the champions' game has evolved so dramatically in the last couple of seasons.

Asked beforehand if they were going to have a go, a relaxed McGahan responded to the Munster fan with a wink and vowed: "As ever."

Denuded of their maul, Munster matched Clermont for ambition, playing with their customary depth and width (Leinster and Ireland take note) while Munster's organisation and, obviously, communication in defence was superb.

However, aside from Wayne Barnes' heavy penalty count against them, they will rue some of the defensive mishaps in midfield and in the build-up to Brock James' decisive 47th-minute try.

They had seemingly been in control for much of the first half, but a failure to convert another chance or two into tries and a soft couple of three-pointers to the home team either side of half-time psychologically kept Clermont very much in the game.

Thereafter, the game turned on its axis and the third quarter was a return to much of the first half here last January, with Clermont running a ton of hard lines and keeping the ball alive in the tackle.

Despite the traditional Sunday slumber in the centre of town, save for the presence of the red army, the 15,000-packed Stade Marcel Michelin was a throbbing cacophony of sound come kick-off and, though well speckled with rouge, was a sea of yellow and blue when the teams entered the stadium.

Les jaunes et bleus were quickly into their stride and playing with their customary depth and width, but so, too, were Munster.

Attempted skip passes by O'Gara to Wallace and Dowling on the left wing floated too far forward, but from another Clermont turnover - Quinlan winning the ball - O'Gara cleverly switched his pass to Lifeimi Mafi on the blindside. The centre showed typically brilliant footwork, and his offload released Keith Earls for Doug Howlett to kick deftly up the line.

Jamie Cudmore played the ball on the ground for O'Gara to draw the sides level, and when Clermont were again penalised for not staying on their feet after a superb box kick off the restart by Tomás O'Leary was well chased again by Howlett.

However, a sloppy lineout and Dowling's inability to hold on to O'Leary's pass, led to an attacking scrum and though O'Leary swept and forcefully brought down Bai, Barnes harshly penalised Ronan coming in from the side.

Still, this had been a more controlled and accurate first quarter than last January, and it promptly became better when James crosskicked out on the full. Munster put together some rapid fire phases off the ensuing lineout, Quinlan giving the attack momentum with a strong carry off Horan's clever line and pass.

After good footwork by Earls, Sheahan then took it up for O'Leary, O'Gara, Ronan and Wallace to put some width on the move and Horan adroitly touched down by the corner flag under pressure for a smashing try. O'Gara even landed a touchline conversion.

Mafi was penalised for offside for James to make it 9-13, whereupon a last-ditch covering by Rougerie denied O'Connell a try after O'Leary had hacked on a loose ball from O'Gara's up-and-under.

In a reprise of the 8-9-14 move that enabled Munster to become the only side to breach the All Blacks' try-line in six tour matches, Wallace and O'Leary fed Howlett but he was a fraction short of grounding the ball on the line when tackled brilliantly by Julien Malzieu.

Compensation came by way of an O'Gara penalty for Cudmore having slipped the bind, but their first failure to deal with one of James' hanging restarts down the middle and scrum pressure enabled James to trim the lead to 12-16 by the break, though with the last play it took Pierre Mignoni's intercept of O'Gara's pass to prevent Mafi scoring under the posts.

The only nagging concerns were that Barnes' whistle had done as much as anything to keep Clermont in the game and that Munster ought really to have been further ahead.

Sure enough, Barnes promptly penalised O'Connell for not releasing and James' long-range penalty made it a one-point game. The Clermont crowd and players had their tails up and more disciplined defending was required as a big rumble by Loic Jacquet through Ronan and a clever box kick by the typically lively Mignoni forced an attacking lineout.

Though the maul and some infield drives by Mario Ledesma and co were repelled, James dummied and beat O'Gara on his inside shoulder, with neither O'Connell or Howlett able to make the covering tackles.

James also converted to push his side 22-16 in front.

The pocket battleship that was Thomas Domingo bounced Howlett before Munster lost a scrum against the head, and though Benoit Baby couldn't put Aurelien Rougerie in, Barnes had penalised Munster for offside (not specifying who) for James to add another three-pointer.

Sheahan and O'Leary going to ground in quick succession didn't help, but the one against O'Connell, when clearly on his feet as Munster were beginning to generate momentum, was a truly shocking call by Barnes.

Short of Baby almost committing GBH on Earls when hitting him under a high ball early, Barnes was giving Munster little or nothing, but when Mignoni was penalised for not releasing after being brilliantly turned in the tackle, Barnes critically penalised them an extra 10 yards for kicking the ball away.

This brought the penalty to about 43 metres from the posts, and O'Gara duly nailed it to bring Munster back into bonus-point territory. They came knocking again, flinging themselves into rucks to keep the ball recycling, but their last chances went with wayward passes by Mafi and O'Leary.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 7 mins: James pen 3-0; 17: O'Gara pen 3-3; 19: O'Gara pen 3-6; 22: James pen 6-6; 25: Horan try, O'Gara con 6-13; 31: James pen 9-13; 35: O'Gara pen 9-16; 35: James pen 12-16; (half-time 12-16); 42: James pen 15-16; 47: James try and con 22-16; 57: James pen 25-16; 74: O'Gara pen 25-19.

ASM CLERMONT AUVERGNE: A Floch; A Rougerie (capt), B Baby, S Bai, J Malzieu; B James, P Mignoni; T Domingo, M Ledesma, D Zirakashvili, J Pierre, L Jacquet, J Cudmore, A Lapandry, J Bonnaire. Replacements: E Vermeulen for Cudmore (46 mins), L Emmanuelli for Domingo (73 mins), A Audebert for Lapandry (68 mins). Not used: M Lozupone, J Senio, P Garcia, G Esterhuizen.

MUNSTER: K Earls; D Howlett, B Murphy, L Mafi, I Dowling; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell (capt), A Quinlan, N Ronan, D Wallace. Replacements: D Ryan for Quinlan (53 mins), D Fogarty for Sheahan (63 mins), T Buckley for Horan (68 mins), J Coughlan for Ronan (74 mins). Not used: P Stringer, P Warwick, J Manning.

Referee: Wayne Barnes(England)