TV View: Ah, don't you know, watching Munster is like chicken soup for the sporting soul; it rekindles your spirit, provides inspiration to armchair zappers and barstool pundits alike.

The list of converts is growing. Even tough-as-nails Dewi Morris in the Sky Sports studio had the angelic look of a disciple to the cause. "Who'd want to go to Thomond Park, I'm quite happy in the studio . . . that place is rocking," he said.

At least he was a good deal safer that poor old George Hook.

Hook, you see, was in an open-air booth of some sort - surely the purse strings aren't that tight in RTÉ these days - in his role of pundit with the national station and, after Munster's spine-tingling win over Gloucester, had to roar and shout to try and get his point across above the din of the province's supporters gathered in close proximity.

In his sometimes role as devil's advocate, a man not afraid to say that things are not all rosy in the garden if that is what he believes, the Hookster can be an easy target. And this is especially true in Munster rugby circles.

Irony is, though, that no one recognises better how much Munster - and their army of fans - have contributed to the Heineken Cup. "I don't want to be parochial about it, but they're the greatest body of supporters around," insisted George as late as Saturday evening.

The fact that he had to yell over the din of those who don't know that George is actually capable of saying so many nice things about them simply hammers home the point that many Munster fans would rather have him get up their noses than hand out compliments.

But, thankfully, George is George and, as the man himself said at the start of RTÉ's coverage of the match on Saturday, before the fans were quite so boisterous, "Australia, New Zealand, Gloucester have all lost here (in Thomond) . . . when Munster run out (on to that pitch), they bring a lot of history with them."

Moments later, Hook was levelling things up by pointing out just how good the visiting team were. "This team (Gloucester) could win and they have come here to win . . . Munster will be beaten here some day."

At which point Tom McGurk jumped in like a good scrumhalf. "So you're saying Munster will lose today?" Ahem, not quite. "I don't think today is the day," said Hook. "It'll be nip and tuck." And he plumps for a four-point (or so) winning margin for the Munster men.

Over on Sky, Morris and Ireland international Kieran Dawson are the studio-based pundits and they too could see only one winner - Munster. "Home advantage," said Morris, "so I've got to go with Munster

. . . but Gloucester are the better side, so I can see them getting within six or seven points." Which, for you Philistines, means a bonus point. Ouch! Wrong there, Dewi.

By half-time, and particularly with Marcus Horan's late first-half try, Munster were the dominant side. Of Horan's decision to tap the penalty and charge over for the team's third try, Hook observed, "I thought he was crazy to think of that."

Dawson on Sky was envious of Horan's audacity. "Would you have done that?" Dawson was asked. "I wouldn't have had the bottle," replied Dawson. "He's had a rush of adrenalin."

Adrenalin rush or not, it worked and, as Miles Harrison, the commentator on Sky remarked, it showed that the "nearly men want winners' medals more than anybody else."

As Morris later conceded, "that was power play from the prop, and it epitomised Munster's edge up front."

Indeed, the decisive moments in the match came when Gloucester had players in the sin bin and, if Sherwin on RTÉ described Henry Paul's second-half banishment as a "harsh decision", there was no doubt from the Sky commentary team that the referee was right.

"I don't think he can have anything to complain about," observed Harrison, while co-commentator Stuart Barnes remarked, "he has to realise that's a professional foul and that is what the sin bin is for . . . (the referee made) the correct call."

So, by the end, it was Munster's day - again - at Thomond Park and while the supporters invaded the pitch and lingered on to sing and torment poor old George in the outdoor studio, one man was quick to make his exit. The Gloucester outhalf Duncan McRae had, as Sherwin told us, "raced off the pitch as quickly as you like".

Yet, this was a game with the sort of passion and skill that make the Heineken Cup what it is. As Dawson said, "whoever thought up the idea for the competition couldn't have known how big it would become." For much of that, we can thank Munster.