The highs and lows of Munster's rollercoaster season

Through the good days and the bad, the one consistency with Munster's journey to the BKT United Rugby Championship Grand Final is that it's never been boring.

Graham Rowntree's opening campaign as head coach, backed up by a new team of assistants in Mike Prendergast, Denis Leamy and Andi Kyriacou, has taken them to within one game silverware, something that seemed unlikely on several occasions during the season.

Their route to the URC final hasn't been a case of a slow start followed by a big finish. It's been a season that's seen them turn corners and hit cul de sacs, but ultimately they've arrived at the right destination.

Here are some of the highs and lows that have defined their run to the decider,

Munster 31-17 Bulls (15 October 2022, Thomond Park)

Round 5 against the Bulls was billed as 'win at all costs', and Graham Rowntree's side got that, and more, in their first Thomond Park outing of the season.

Having lost three of their first four games, and the only win being a dour 21-5 victory against Zebre in Cork, the honeymoon period was long over for Rowntree and his staff.

For the first time this season, we saw some green shoots in what this team were trying to do. The province had welcomed back their contingent of Emerging Ireland players after the tour of South Africa, all of whom brought a badly needed confidence to a squad that were lacking it.

Calvin Nash and Shane Daly impressed on the wings, even if Nash only got to play 40 minutes due to an injury. Thomas Ahern and Jack Crowley added punch off the bench, while Edwin Edobgo continued his impressive early-season rise.

Bit by bit you could see their attacking shape come together. The handling errors and loose passes that littered their opening four performances