With games against Leinster and Ulster to come in the next fortnight, you'd be tempting fate to suggest that Munster are back, but at the very least they're moving in the right direction.
The main feelings after Saturday night's bonus-point win against the Bulls?
"Satisfying, relieving, enjoyable," said Niall Scannell after the game. "A lot of things we haven't had the last few weeks."
While still in the bottom half of the table, their second win of the season saw them climb up a couple of places in the BKT United Rugby Championship to 10th, staying in touch with the top eight, which looks like being the realistic target for this season.
On the pitch, their steady, efficient performance painted the first few pictures of their potential when the passes stick, with Joey Carbery running the game at out-half.
"I think you saw glimpses of what we've believed for the last few weeks and what we have probably been saying the last few weeks and not delivering on. I think we delivered in patches [against the Bulls] on what we're trying to build so hugely encouraging, yeah," Scannell added.
The hooker admitted he and his team-mates had been feeling the pressure after their disastrous first four games, which saw both results and performances fall way below expectation.
"We haven't been playing as well as we know we can play and I think you have to go out there and earn it but when you look at the teamsheets we've had over the last few weeks, there's a lot of good players on our team and we just weren't playing to the level we should have been and we knew that.
"We were working really hard and sometimes that's maybe the most frustrating thing, that you're just going and going again and working harder and you're trying more things and it's just not clicking.
"But that's why it was so satisfying tonight, to see not all of it but a lot of bits of it just click. And to see that attack flow nicely and I particularly got a huge lift at half-time when we were in that goal-line defence to see all that work that Denis Leamy's been doing with us and lads just so enthusiastic, just piling into those collisions.
"To hear that Thomond Park roar again as we were jogging off, it was very nice and it was uplifting because it's been a tough few weeks."
One of the more impressive elements of their game was how well they dealt with the physicality of the Bulls, with the Pretoria side having gained a bruising reputation in their opening season in the URC.
Even at just 19 years old, Edwin Edogbo (below) used his 122kg frame to great effect, while shifting Tadhg Beirne back to flanker allowed them to add extra power to the pack.
At the end of both the first and second halves they put together important defensive stands on their own tryline, which Scannell says was just as satisfying as their four tries.
"It was hugely encouraging for the lads. We can't beat around the bush, they're a hugely physical team. They're big men and that's an area of the game they pride themselves on and it's an area of the game that we really pride ourselves on so we knew there would be a bit of warfare in there and to come out on top of the two big exchanges was huge.
"You just don't want to put yourself in that position where they score and all of a sudden now there's a lot more in the game and more on the line, so it was a good positive to just close that out and that's a big boost to the confidence as well."
The win came at the right time for neutrals just as much as it did for Munster, with a trip to face Leinster at the Aviva Stadium this Saturday (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player), which will put their new-found confidence to the test.
"We haven’t been in the position the last few weeks to be looking ahead to fixtures, it’s been all about this Saturday and especially when we’re playing a team like the Bulls. So we haven’t really looked at Leinster.
"You are very pleased when you beat the Bulls and then you do maybe start to think 'here we go again’ for the next week. We’ll be ready for it, and we saw against Connacht last week and we saw Leinster against Connacht last night, the Irish derbies, they’re still special in every way.
"They’re hotly contested and we know next week will be as well. It’s not something we’ve really talked about but certainly now it’s starting to creep into the back of the head that we’ve got to start prepping for next week, and we will and we’ll be where we need to be on Saturday."
Watch Leinster v Munster in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday from 4.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport and follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app
