Johnno reflects on a hard fought victory

"I'm happy, not delighted" he insisted.

"You get delighted when you know you've done everything right. I thought the effort was first class, it was brave but we can't allow ourselves to get carried away because there were one or two areas where we didn't quite get it right. We've had a sensational lineout all year but tonight it wasn't at its best, which meant we didn't get on the front foot in other areas.

"Since the autumn internationals we've only really been able to have one full training session together because of the inclement weather so we are a bit rusty as a group but we are happy. I'll sleep a bit better tonight which is nice!

"The scrum set the tone for us. Sometimes when you have such dominance in the scrum the game doesn't flow because there's a lot of pressure and resets, but we really made the most of our dominance in that area which was really pleasing.

"Jonathan Humphreys has done some excellent work on our scrum and we've really seen it coming on this season. Paul James and Adam Jones are two fantastic props to have, but there's a man in the middle there, Richard Hibbard, who also deserves credit. He is an outstanding scrummager and he does make such a big difference in that area.

"For all we talk about the scrum though, it wouldn't matter one bit if we didn't take advantage of it, and from that point, credit has to go to young Daniel who has been kicking excellently. If he wasn't converting the penalties, we wouldn't be talking about the scrum now.

"There was a 10 minute period at the start of the second half where they had all the play, all the ball, on our line, and I think the boys showed great resilience. It was an area of the game that let us down last week, we were a bit high in the contact area, but I think what they displayed today was great character against a side that usually takes some points away when they are in that area of the pitch. I'd say that I was delighted, not just happy, with that part of the game.

"We knew when we looked at the draw at the start of the year that it wasn't going to be easy. On balance, we are not too far off where we need to be. The pool is evenly balanced but I think our destiny is in our hands - although Munster and Toulon will both be saying the same right now. We'll still be talking about the different outcomes for this pool right up until the very last game and everyone knew that from the very start. It's going to be interesting. We play Toulon here on the final weekend and that could give us a good opportunity to control the pool but we've got to go to Irish before that and get something. Munster can vouch for how difficult that is. The only thing I can guarantee is it's going to go down to the wire."