But we've seen reality being distorted before at Thomond Park. And so it was to prove again.

Paul O'Connell set the tone early on. With Sale having just cancelled out Ronan O'Gara's early penalty, O'Gara restarted and sent the ball towards Sebastian Chabal, the man most would have perceived as the hardest Sale nut to crack. The ball had scarcely touched Chabal's fingertips before he was hit by a ginger freight train. Other red jerseys joined in and Chabal was quickly 20 metres further back than when he started. The ball was eventually cleared but from the resulting line-out Anthony Foley forced his way over for Munster's first try.

Sale came back strongly and Munster survived a two-minute try-line assault through sheer bloodymindedness and bravery.

The second try came shortly after, Donncha O'Callaghan took a line-out steal, Munster worked it through the back-line before Ian Dowling skidded over in the corner. And the noise levels went through the roof five minutes before half-time when when a scuffed Ronan O'Gara kick popped up into Barry Murphy's hands and he touched down.

Three-quarters of the way there then, with a 24-9 half-time lead.

The second half was a classic example of what we've seen Munster do so often at Thomond.

Why secure the fourth try early when you can ratchet up the tension by waiting until the very last available moment to score?

Sale were kept at bay for the duration of the second half and then, in injury time, David Wallace popped up to cross and send the old stadium into raptures.

It meant that rather than facing having to head to France to face Perpignan in the quarters, they had back-to-back games in Lansdowne Road. After that came Biarritz in the Millennium Stadium, and if you don't know what happened there, where were you?