Munster gave their hopes of a home quarter-final in the BKT United Rugby Championship a major shot in the arm, after picking up a resilient 27-17 bonus-point win away to the Ospreys.
In a game where Graham Rowntree's side had just 38% possession and 28% territory, the defending champions were clinical in attack as they picked up maximum points, while denying their playoff rivals anything.
Sean O'Brien scored two intercept tries in the opening half to help the province into a 19-0 lead, and while the Ospreys dominated large portions of the game, Munster's defence impressed as they moved up to fourth place in the table for the time being at least.
Shane Daly and RG Snyman were also on the try-scoring sheet for Munster with Joey Carbery converting two and adding a penalty.
Keelan Giles, Sam Parry and Alex Cuthbert scored tries for Ospreys, one of which Owen Williams converted.
It took only three minutes for the reigning champions to take the lead when full-back Mike Haley burst into the line allowing Daly to out-flank the cover defence and score.
Worse was soon to follow for Ospreys when a pass from Owen Williams was intercepted by O’Brien (below) who handed off Giles on a 55-metre run to the line.
O’Brien repeated the dose, this time it was a pass from Keiran Williams which went astray, with the wing performing heroics to keep his kick ahead in play to secure the touchdown. Carbery converted from the touchline to give Munster a 19-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Despite the scoreline, Ospreys had the better of territory and possession in the first half-hour and they were rewarded when centres Keiran Williams and Evardi Boshoff combined effectively to create a try for Giles.
Munster immediately responded with a sustained period of pressure, with Justin Tipuric sin-binned for persistent team infringements but Ospreys held out to trail 19-5 at half-time.
After the restart, Tipuric returned with no damage done to the scoreboard and in time to see Parry force his way over from a line-out drive.
Ospreys were back in contention but their opponents soon extended their advantage when the giant Snyman used his power to force his way over for the bonus-point try.
Carbery missed the conversion but was on target with a penalty to leave Ospreys with a mountain to climb.
Cuthbert had the final say with Ospreys’ third try and may have had another had he not pulled up with a hamstring problem but it still left his side with no points from the game.
Ospreys: Iestyn Hopkins; Alex Cuthbert, Evardi Boshoff, Keiran Williams, Keelan Giles; Owen Williams, Reuben Morgan-Williams; Nicky Smith, Sam Parry, Tom Botha; James Ratti, Rhys Davies; Jeandre Rudolph, Justin Tipuric (capt), Morgan Morris.
Replacements: Lewis Lloyd, Garyn Phillips, Rhys Henry, Huw Sutton, Harri Deaves, Cameron Jones, Jack Walsh, Owen Watkin.
Munster: Mike Haley; Seán O'Brien, Antoine Frisch, Rory Scannell, Shane Daly; Joey Carbery, Craig Casey; Josh Wycherley, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Tom Ahern, RG Snyman; John Hodnett, Alex Kendellen (capt), Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Eoghan Clarke, Jeremy Loughman, Stephen Archer, Jack O'Donoghue, Ruadhán Quinn, Ethan Coughlan, Tony Butler, Shay McCarthy.
Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)
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