With four minutes to go in this absorbing contest before a full house of 26,000, Munster's grip on their Heineken Cup title looked tenuous at best. Not only had that changed dramatically by the final whistle, but Sale's defeat in Montauban later on Saturday evening added to the holders' hopes of coming out of Pool One in one piece.
They face Sale in Limerick next, after Christmas, and a win with Sale gaining no more than one bonus point would eliminate Philippe Saint-André's side. Clermont's only hope lies in beating Sale and Montauban with bonus points.
Munster were relieved to come through a game that will hardly be bettered for quality or drama . "To be fair to Clermont, I think they have genuine class all over the park," Ronan O'Gara said. "You're looking at fellas like [Mario] Ledesma coming off the bench. The Fijian winger [Napolioni Nalaga] had a big game. I thought it was a good game, a good high standard and it was bloody difficult. We had to defend for our lives and I don't think anyone would have complained if they had won."
For O'Gara it was an extra special day, as his conversion of Niall Ronan's last-minute try took him past 1,000 points in this competition. Ronan's try made Munster safe after, just over a minute earlier, Marcus Horan had touched down out wide.
At that stage they had been trailing 13–11 to a Clermont side reduced to 14 men after the first quarter but playing brilliant, forceful rugby. Jamie Cudmore had been shown a red card after a brawl with Paul O'Connell. The Munster captain was shown yellow.
"I saw him going for Jerry [Flannery] on the ground so I went to grab him to pull him off Jerry and he had three punches in on me before I knew it," O'Connell said. "That was it. We've kissed and made up already. These things happen. They're a team that plays with a lot of heart and passion and these things will happen in rugby matches."
Clermont's coach, Vern Cotter, said the different-coloured cards seemed unbalanced, but otherwise looked on the bright side, which in the circumstances was remarkable given that his side were leading with three minutes left and had just missed a drop-goal attempt that would have put them five clear.
"We have to look at the positive side of that game," Cotter said. "These type of events against teams like Munster help teams grow. We'll get over the initial disappointment and look at it analytically to see if we can improve and move forward."
Munster K Earls; D Howlett, B Murphy (P Warwick, 62), L Mafi, I Dowling; R O'Gara, T O'Leary (P Stringer, 73); M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes (T Buckley, 67), D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell (capt), A Quinlan (D Ryan, 57), D Wallace, N Ronan.
Tries Wallace, Horan, Ronan. Con O'Gara. Pens O'Gara 2.
Sin-bin O'Connell, 19.
Clermont Auvergne A Floch; J Malzieu, M Joubert, B Baby (S Bai, 53), N Nalaga; B James, P Mignoni; L Emmanuelli, B Cabello (M Ledesma, ht), J Roux (D Zirakashvilli, ht), J Cudmore, T Privat (C Sampson, 68), J Bonnaire, E Vermeulen (capt; E Etien, 72), A Audebert.
Try Malzieu. Con James. Pens James 2.
Sent off Cudmore, 19.
Referee C White (England). Attendance 26,000.
