The PRO12 pace setters scored four tries in an impressive performance at the Arms Park, with the Blues only able to cross once courtesy of hooker Kristian Dacey’s second-half effort.
The Blues battled hard throughout but they found themselves with too much to do after the visitors breached their line three times in the opening 31 minutes.
A much different outcome appeared to be on the cards early on, though, when Phil Davies’ side started brightly and prevented Munster from getting their hands on the ball for the first five minutes. They took the lead with 13 minutes played when fly-half Simon Humberstone kicked his first points in the PRO12, but Munster dominated from there on in.
It was a Blues old boy who did most of the damage as Casey Laulala produced a man-of-the-match display on his return to the capital. The New Zealander created something out of nothing as he made the most of Gavin Evans’ slip following a free kick just inside the Blues half, before offloading to full back Felix Jones for a fine score with 16 minutes on the clock.
Munster fly-half JJ Hanrahan, who finished with a 100 per-cent kicking record, sent over the simple extras to make it 7-3 and captain Damien Varley grabbed a second try after 26 minutes, powering straight through the middle of a ruck before stretching out of scrum-half Lewis Jones’ attempted tackle.
Hanrahan’s conversion left the Blues with a 14-3 deficit and things soon got even worse when James Cronin crossed on the half hour. Cathal Sheridan’s chargedown put Munster on the front foot deep in the Blues 22, with Cronin picking up Hanrahan’s long pass on the bounce to canter over.
A third straight conversion and a 38th-minute penalty from Hanrahan left the Blues with a mountain to climb at 24-3 down at half time.
Any hopes the Blues held of producing a stunning second-half comeback were dashed just two minutes after the restart as right wing Andrew Conway sprinted clear for Munster’s bonus-point score. Again, Laulala’s individual brilliance was the catalyst as his back-of-the-hand pass put Jones in space, with the full back setting Conway free with a superb flat pass.
Hanrahan made it five from five from the tee with his most difficult conversion of the night, but CJ Stander’s yellow card for repeated Munster infringements handed the Blues the initiative, even if the game was as good as dead.
And the Blues immediately took advantage as Dacey went over from close-range to give the Arms Park faithful something to celebrate. Humberstone’s conversion from the right-hand side cut the gap to 31-10 with just over half an hour left and the Blues remained competitive from there on in.
They were unable to add to their tally, though, despite replacement hooker Mike Sherry following Stander to the sin bin in the final 10 minutes.
