But the Heineken Cup champions, who showed nine changes from their midweek defeat of Leinster, did it the hard way in Galway as they were forced to fight back from having two men sin-binned.

Flanker John O'Sullivan and on-form fly-half Ronan O'Gara both saw yellow either side of the half-time whistle.

Those sin-binnings saw Munster down to 13 men just after Connacht had nosed 8-6 in front, but a Tomas O'Leary try and a late O'Gara penalty saw the visitors come out on top.

Bidding to end a four-game losing streak in the league, Connacht started well in the wintry conditions.

Their forwards proved more than a match for a Munster front eight that was without the benched John Hayes, Denis Leamy and captain Paul O'Connell.

After a listless first quarter, Mark McHugh boomed over the opening points from a 22nd-minute penalty.

Playing with the wind, Munster opted to keep the ball in hand and try to dent a valiant Connacht defence through the middle.

They made little headway and territory was largely shared as hopes lifted of a first Connacht win over the men in red since 1986.

Connacht's lead was short-lived however as the visitors eked out penalties at ruck and scrum time for O'Gara's stand-in Jeremy Manning to send through the posts on 24 and 34 minutes.

Connacht's response was strong and their forwards carved out a number of try-scoring opportunities towards the end of the half.

In injury-time, O'Sullivan, a former favourite at the Sportsground, was banished for pulling down a maul.

Five minutes into the second period Connacht got their just rewards when centre Gavin Williams piled over after a loose throw from skipper John Fogarty, just metres from the Munster line, had looped over the top of a lineout.

Munster were furious as they felt there had been a knock-on, but referee David Keane awarded the try and sent O'Gara to the line for dissent.

McHugh's conversion attempt went astray, and with Hayes and O'Connell brought on by Munster, Connacht's lead was never going to last.

Peter Stringer reacted quickly after the ball squirted out of a Munster scrum to send winger O'Leary scooting over for a 55th-minute try.

From an almost impossible angle, O'Gara narrowly missed the conversion.

The Ireland number 10 then skewed a penalty attempt wide but he did find his range on 78 minutes to steer Munster to their 27th straight success against Connacht and sixth win on the trot since they went down to Llanelli in November.