Munster march on in Europe

Munster ended Saracens' European dreams with an 18-16 win at the Ricoh Arena to set up a Heineken Cup final against Toulouse in Cardiff.

The Magners League side needed all their experience in the competition to book a return trip to the Millennium Stadium, the ground where they won the trophy in 2006 against French opposition.

First-half tries from Ronan O'Gara and Alan Quinlan cancelled out Kameli Ratuvou's early score and ended the hopes of England's last remaining team.

Saracens certainly pushed them all the way to the bitter end despite at one stage being down to 13 men when props Nick Lloyd and Cencus Johnston were sin-binned.

Wide load

Rather than take on their opponents up front Alan Gaffney's team instead went wide at every opportunity, their bravery in attack paying off inside four minutes.

Ratuvou ended up finishing a counter-attacking move that he had helped launch by getting on the end of Glen Jackson's clever little grubber kick deep inside his own territory.

Just two inside passes later and after Adam Powell had decided to take the tackle rather than go for broke himself, the Fijian flier barged his way over.

Munster's response was almost as emphatic as Sarries' opening salvo, only a forward pass from Rua Tipoki ruling out a try for winger Ian Dowling, although they still picked up three points following an earlier infringement.

O'Gara followed up his penalty by getting his side's first try, the fly-half spotting a prop in front of him and throwing a simple dummy that left a huge gap to gallop into, although he somehow missed the simple conversion.

To their credit Saracens did not let their heads drop at the disappointment of conceding, and only some strong tackling, epitomised by Tomas O'Leary flattening opposite number Neil de Kock, stopped them scoring.

Somehow Munster managed to salvage enough energy after standing firm on their own line to break away and score a crucial try on the stroke of half time through Alan Quinlan, who cantered in under the posts virtually untouched.

Rain rules

By the time the two teams returned for the second 40 minutes the afternoon sunshine had been replaced by heavy rain, forcing both teams to adjust accordingly.

Jackson slotted over a pair of penalties to cut the gap, his second following two barnstorming runs from Ratuvou that forced Tupoki to hold on in the tackle and forced Nigel Owens to bring out the yellow card for the first time.

Down a man and with a lead of just two, Munster were wobbling only briefly as Sarries prop Lloyd decided to respond to Dennis Leamy's attentions by throwing several right hands.

O'Gara missed the resulting shot at goal but made no mistake soon after when replacement Johnston joined his fellow front-rower on the sidelines for lying all over Paul O'Connell after making the tackle.

By the time both men were back on the field Jackson had kicked his third penalty, meaning a tense final few minutes with Munster 18-16 ahead.

Saracens pushed hard in an attempt to get the killer score, although this time Ratuvou and the rest of the back division were unable to work their magic.

In the end their European dreams died when Richard Hill was penalised for holding on, robbing his side of their final chance and also denying him one last hurrah before he ends his illustrious rugby career this summer.