Niall Scannell seeing progress after 'a tough few weeks' for Munster

With games against Leinster and Ulster to come in the next fortnight, you'd be tempting fate to suggest that Munster are back, but at the very least they're moving in the right direction.

The main feelings after Saturday night's bonus-point win against the Bulls?

"Satisfying, relieving, enjoyable," said Niall Scannell after the game. "A lot of things we haven't had the last few weeks."

While still in the bottom half of the table, their second win of the season saw them climb up a couple of places in the BKT United Rugby Championship to 10th, staying in touch with the top eight, which looks like being the realistic target for this season.

On the pitch, their steady, efficient performance painted the first few pictures of their potential when the passes stick, with Joey Carbery running the game at out-half.

"I think you saw glimpses of what we've believed for the last few weeks and what we have probably been saying the last few weeks and not delivering on. I think we delivered in patches [against the Bulls] on what we're trying to build so hugely encouraging, yeah," Scannell added.

The hooker admitted he and his team-mates had been feeling the pressure after their disastrous first four games, which saw both results and performances fall way below expectation.

"We haven't been playing as well as we know we can play and I think you have to go out there and earn it but when you look at the teamsheets we've had over the last few weeks, there's a lot of good players on our team and we just weren't playing to the level we should have been and we knew that.

"We were working really hard and sometimes that's maybe the most frustrating thing, that you're just going and going again and working harder and you're trying more things and it's