Heartbreak for Munster after place-kicking shootout loss to Toulouse

As it did last year, Munster's European journey ends against Toulouse.

But that barely begins to tell the story of one of the Heineken Champions Cup's most gripping days.

After 100 minutes of rugby it all came down to six men. In red: Conor Murray, Ben Healy and Joey Carbery. In white: Antoine Dupont, Thomas Ramos and Romain Ntamack. Each with two kicks at goal, and the best of six through to the semi-final.

It was just the second such shootout in the competition's 27 year history - 13 years on from Leicester's win against Cardiff.

Martyn Williams and Cardiff suffered heartbreak that day, and today it was Munster's turn. While Toulouse went four from four to start the shootout, Healy and Murray both saw strikes drift wide, trailing 4-2.

And with Healy needing to score his second attempt, all of 40 metres out from goal and 15 metres in from the right touchline, he curled it left and wide, a nail-biting, exhilarating and heartbreaking end to a gripping contest.

A crowd of 40,476 turned the Aviva Stadium red, and in rugby terms, were given full value for their money. Three tries apiece, Munster's coming from Alex Kendellen, Keith Earls and Mike Haley saw the lead chop back and forth throughout the first 80 minutes.

Munster led by 10 with 20 minutes to play, but Toulouse responded as only champions can, a Matthis Lebel try (his second) and a late Ramos penalty sending us to extra-time.

And despite the flurry of drop-goal attempts in the final stages of the 100 minutes, it all came down to the kicking tee, Johann van Graan's Champions Cup hopes with Munster ended by the most unlikely of outcomes.

The opening minutes wet the beak, a sample of the weapons both teams possessed.

For Munster, it was the ground game of Peter O'Mahony and