The ball struck the left-hand upright before grazing the inside of the crossbar and dropping over. Pontypridd full back Brett Davey wheeled away in delight, the Munster players crestfallen as Italian referee Signori Giacomel's final whistle heralded the Irish province's first defeat in this season's European Cup.

The 4,500 crowd stood in acclamation of their team's performance while generously acknowledging the visitors' gallantry. Munster coach Declan Kidney captured the moment: "It was like playing Munster in Munster and Munster came out on top." Captain Mick Galwey observed wistfully: "I suppose I know how Saracens felt.

"We lost this match in the 20 minutes before half-time, dropping the tempo and giving away a couple of silly scores. I suppose I'm glad none of this happened last weekend."

Ronan O'Gara admitted: "At 13-7 we had the opportunity to put ourselves out of sight. But we didn't, we lost our discipline and did not meet our own standards."

Munster's disappointment was palpable, but it was impossible not to escape a feeling that had this match really mattered, the visitors' error count would have been significantly lower. While accepting that the team's performance was way below the benchmark of previous European Cup victories, the attitude of the players and the character they displayed to haul themselves from the spectre of a sizeable defeat to the cusp of victory underlined the province's desire. This wasn't a jolly boys' outing to Wales.

Davey's penalty on 54 minutes nudged Pontypridd into a 31-19 lead: if Munster were non-committal with regard to the importance of the result, content to rest on the laurels of five victories and qualification for the quarterfinals, then they could have ambled to the final whistle. Instead they embraced an improbable recovery with gusto, amassing 17 unanswered points through tries from Anthony Foley and David Wallace and the boot of Ronan O'Gara.

Leading 36-31 with four minutes of normal time remaining, they braced themselves for a final Pontypridd onslaught.

The home side did not disappoint them. Pontypridd should have scored in the first minute of injury time but Dale McIntosh's careless one-handed flop scuppered the move with the line beckoning. As the minutes ticked by, the thin red line got thinner until finally snapping and allowing replacement centre John Colderley to carry three tacklers over the line.

Munster claimed that the try should not have been awarded, that Peter Stringer had managed to place himself between the ball and the ground: the protests never extended beyond the dressing-room door.

Davey, who minutes earlier had been voted man of the match, scuffed a nervy conversion that begged for a little good fortune en route to the other side of the posts.

It wasn't his first brush with the woodwork. Earlier he had watched a long-range penalty bounce off the crossbar before scraping over.

Munster may also rue seven points tossed away when Keith Wood's ill-judged pass turned a four-on-two overlap into a Pontypridd try. For the first time in the campaign the Irish hooker will shiver when he reviews the match video. His line-out throwing was poor, his general performance substandard.

He was not alone in his unease - few Munster players performed with the elan of previous matches. Ronan O'Gara was an exception. He contributed 21 points with the boot, twice made fine breaks that led to scores and his punting and line-kicking their customary accuracy. Mike Mullins, John Kelly and David Wallace offered performances above the average.

Pontypridd certainly got out of jail, appropriately perhaps in a week when seven of their players spent the night in a French prison cell, but one could not deny the quality of their rugby.

Six matches and not until injury time in the sixth have Munster been compelled to bend the knee. In preparation for a quarter-final at Thomond Park on April 15th, Saturday's defeat should provide a salutary reminder that fortune occasionally ignores the brave.

Scoring sequence: 3 mins: Greenslade-Jones try, Davey conversion, 7-0; 8: Quinlan try, O'Gara conversion, 7-7; 11: O'Gara drop goal, 7-10; 13: O'Gara penalty, 7-13; 19: Davey penalty, 10-13; 30: O'Gara penalty, 10-16; 35: Davey try, Davey conversion, 20-16; 42: Davey penalty, 23-16. Half-time: 23-16. 45: O'Gara penalty, 19-23; 48: Field try, 28-19; 54: Davey penalty, 31-19; 61: Foley try, O'Gara conversion, 31-26; 71: Wallace try, O'Gara conversion 31-33; 76: O'Gara penalty, 31-36. 83: Colderley try, Davey's conversion, 38-36.

Pontypridd: B Davey; G Wyatt, S Parker, J Bryant, R Greenslade-Jones; L Jarvis, P John (capt); M Griffiths, A Lamerton, S Cronk; G Prosser, I Gough; G Lewis, D McIntosh, R Field. Replacements: W James for Gough 49 mins; J Colderley for Bryant 54 mins; C Loader for Griffiths 62 mins; M Lloyd for Field 62 mins.

Munster: D Crotty; J Kelly, M Mullins, J Holland, A Horgan; R O'Gara, P Stringer; P Clohessy, K Wood, J Hayes; M Galwey, J Langford; A Quinlan, A Foley, D Wallace. Replacements: E Halvey for Quinlan 51 mins; M Horan for Hayes 70 mins.

Referee: S Giacomel (Italy).