Munster head coach Rob Penney admitted after his side's 29-6 win over Racing Metro that reaching the Heineken Cup quarter-finals in his first season with the Irish province didn't bear contemplating.
"If we hadn't made it the people would have been in the long grass, there would have been a lot of bullets being fired. But even if we hadn't gotten the outcome I would still have been proud of the progress we are making and the areas of growth we are getting," said Penney.
"I really believe in this team and the direction it is going. Once we got into our rhythm, I thought at times we were compelling and we looked very efficient.
"Our mental preparation and ability to stay focused for the whole 80 minutes was something we needed. The relentlessness we were seeking was there.
"We were up against some pretty resilient opposition and the boys delivered a pretty compelling performance at times. We made a couple of errors early on and that was on the back of being a bit anxious and wanting to do well.
"It took us a bit of time to settle into the game, probably longer than we would have liked."
All's well that ends well and, after Simon Zebo had rounded off his hat-trick, Munster knocked-out reigning champions Leinster from the final quarter-final spot and earned the right to travel to Twickenham to face the unbeaten top seeds Harlequins in April. It will be Munster's 14th foray into the Heineken Cup quarter-finals, .level with Toulouse
