Bernard Jackman: Massive Munster progress despite 'cruel' blow

Bernard Jackman believes Munster are good enough to win silverware in the United Rugby Championship if they can bounce back from the pain of a "cruel" Heineken Champions Cup exit at the hands of Toulouse.

After a pulsating 100 minutes in the European quarter-final between Johann van Graan's side and the reigning Champions Cup victors at the Aviva Stadium where neither side could be separated, the match was decided by the rarity of a place-kicking shootout.

Ultimately it was the French side who prevailed while Munster have been left to lick their wounds after coming so close to reaching the semi-final.

"I think it's very cruel on Munster who contributed a huge amount to what was a fantastic game in terms of drama," said Jackman on RTÉ's Morning Ireland.

"Unfortunately with the way the season has got compacted, (the game) needed to finish on the day with the semi-final coming up this weekend.

"But (the place kicking competition defeat) was absolutely cruel and so rare. The last one I remember was Leicester-Cardiff, it must be 10-12 years ago, so it doesn't happen very often."

And Jackman backed Munster to contend for other honours if they can bottle the ingredients which have carried them through recent weeks.

"Unfortunately for Munster, they miss out. But they've made massive progress the last couple of months and I think there's a reconnection," he said.

"The Munster fans were brilliant, they can be incredibly proud of their team and now the challenge for Munster is they've a week off to get back up now to the level they were at on Saturday and the previous couple of weeks against Ulster and Exeter and go and try to win silverware in the URC because this is the end of the Van Graan era; there's a lot of players who've been