There was a loud cheer at Musgrave Park for Ronan O'Gara, who was playing his 234th competitive game for Munster, breaking their appearance record, but it was young Blues fly half Rhys Patchell, playing just his 14th game for the Blues who kicked off.

The youngster made an early impact. Munster kept the ball in hand and attacked the Blues half well, however, when the ball was spilled and kicked through, Patchell showed great speed to outpace former New Zealand international winger Doug Howlett and chip through. Munster just managed to recover and put the ball in touch to prevent the try but from the lineout the Blues won a penalty that Patchell converted.

The Blues had another chance soon after. Copeland this time showed great pace in the open to get past Mike Sherry and put in a pass to Tovey, that saw the fullback just pulled down and knock-on inside the Munster twenty-two.

A penalty from a Blues scrum saw Munster level the scores through the boot of O'Gara, but it was a hugely encouraging first half for the young Blues team.

Half time Munster 3 Cardiff Blues 3

The Blues had a fantastic start to the second period. With the ball just inside the Munster half, Patchell passed on to Jamie Roberts, who put in a well timed inside ball to young winger Owen Williams. He broke down the middle, rounded Felix Jones and touch down under the posts, with Patchell converting. It was an excellent move and showed what the Blues were capable of.

O'Gara got three back for the home side with a relatively easy penalty, before both sides made a number of changes. It was good to se Leigh Halfpenny back on the pitch having recovered from his shoulder injury sustained against Australia.

The Blues looked to have scored a second try when they turned the ball over in their own half. Halfpenny started the attack and the Blues worked the ball right where Roberts did well do draw the winger and go all the way to the Musnter try-line, but his pass to Williams was just forward as Williams dived over to score.

The Blues didn't have to wait long for the try. The ball popped out of a ruck 45 yards from the Munster try-line and Copeland did well to pick up, side step O'Gara and sprint all the way to the corner to score with Patchell converting, to secure a superb win for the Blues.

Cardiff Blues: 15 Jason Tovey (50off) 14 Owen Williams 13 Richard Smith 12 Jamie Roberts 11 Harry Robinson 10 Rhys Patchell 9 Lewis Jones (61off)

8 Robin Copeland (71off) 7 Sam Warburton 6 Josh Navidi (c) 5 Lou Reed (56off) 4 Bradley Davies 3 Benoit Bourrust (40off) 2 Rhys Williams (70off) 1 Sam Hobbs (70off)

16 Kristian Dacey (70on) 17 Paetru Tamba (70on)18 Scott Andrews (40on) 19 James Down (56on) 20 Luke Hamilton (71on) 21 Alex Walker (61on) 22 Ceri Sweeney 23 Leigh Halfpenny (50on)

Munster: 15 Felix Jones 14 Doug Howlett (c) 13 Keith Earls 12 James Downey 11 Denis Hurley 10 Ronan O'Gara 9 Conor Murray

1 Dave Kilcoyne 2 Mike Sherry 3 Stephen Archer 4 Dave Foley 5 Donnacha Ryan 6 Tommy O'Donnell 7 Sean Dougall 8 James Coughlan

16 Sean Henry 17 Wian du Preez 18 BJ Botha 19 Billy Holland 20 CJ Stander 21 Duncan Williams 22 Ian Keatley 23 Casey Laulala.

Cardiff Blues
Tries O Williams x 1 Copeland x 1
Con Patchell x 2
Pen Patchell x 1
DG

Munster
Tries
Con
Pen O'Gara x 2
DG

Yellow Cards
Attendance 8874