Connacht head coach Stuart Lancaster knows his team still have plenty of work do to but was able to bask in the satisfaction of a job well done as they secured a bonus-point win over Munster.
The victory means the province can still make the top eight of the BKT URC if they beat Edinburgh away next week and one of Ulster, Cardiff, Munster or Lions slip up.
"If you'd have said to me at the start of the day we'd get a win with a bonus point and play as well as we did, I'd have taken it for sure," he told reporters after the 26-7 success at a sold-out Dexcom Stadium.
"But there was an inner confidence inside the group that's been building and obviously we had a good week's training so I think that all helps.
"But it's got to go back to zero and we've got to do it again next week because it's still all to go after, isn't it?
"It gives a great sense of belief in the direction that we're going."
Connacht burst out of the blocks, controlling the game and scoring three first-half tries, while Munster looked all at sea.
"The wind was tough to play into so obviously your kicking options get limited so you have to play and in some ways that's good for us because it forces us to start moving the ball from a restart, you catch a restart and then you have to play out," said the former England and Leinster coach.
"Josh (Ioane) I thought was excellent, Josh when he came back in and he controlled that really well so to go in at 19-0 was really, really good.
"My overriding message at half-time was about discipline which probably wasn't the way he'd played out the second half as eight penalties went against us so we need to improve that for sure because Munster came back into it but it was a relief to get that try at the end, Sean Jansen's try to give us the bonus point for sure.
"Munster go hard at the breakdown and they hold you up in the tackle contest and they try and create slow ball so you've got to work for everything when you play Munster and we worked in all the unseen parts of the game really well, I felt.
"It never happens automatically but a gradual process of pounding the rock means that you ultimately get your rewards in the end but sometimes it takes until the 72nd minute to achieve it.
"So yeah, Munster stuck in there but I felt on the balance of the first half we took a lot out of their tanks and obviously they had the 20-minute red card as well which obviously didn't help them but yeah, overall great win."
Meanwhile, Munster boss Clayton McMillan (above) admitted that his team were second best.
"Got beaten by a better team on the night, always knew it was going to be tough coming here," said the New Zealander, whose side missed the chance to secure their play-off place.
"Tough team to play at home, on a decent roll over the last couple of months.
"Can see their confidence in the game,
"There were high stakes: Win and we were in and lose and they were out. We challenged our guys to make sure their motivation wasn't any stronger than ours.
"But it was, because you see that in the collisions.
"I thought they had a little bit more starch in their collisions than we did and that allowed them to play on the front foot and that serves the rest of their game well.
"So we applaud them for that."
Munster did manage to get on the board with just over 12 minutes to play with Craig Casey's well-taken try and McMillan felt that had Alex Kendellen's touchdown stood just after half-time, they could have made it a closer contest.
"We don't have all of the views that obviously the TMO has a look at but from all the views I had, I couldn't see any separation," he said of the incident where the flanker thought he had scored.
On Diarmuid Barron's red card for a dangerous clear-out on Connacht hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin, he said: "I think he probably paid the price for a few incidents that have happened over the last 24 hours or in the last couple of weeks.
"It's a tough job for referees. It's a complicated game. Sometimes I struggle myself to understand the law.
"I don't know what a breakdown looks like these days. That's not their fault. We've got to have a look at how we can simplify the game for everybody."
Munster host the Lions in Thomond Park next weekend knowing a win will secure Champions Cup rugby and a spot in the play-offs.
