Buoyed by their returning Lions, Munster simply had too much firepower for Cardiff and managed to pull away in the second half.

Following the poor away defeat at the hands of Glasgow in their last outing, Rassie Erasmus was all too aware that the performance had to improve and his charges did just that, running in five tries in the process of a 39-16 win.

Conor Murray controlled the game well from the base of the ruck and managed to get amongst the tries while fellow Lions, Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander also got through a significant amount of game time which will stand them in good stead with a hectic October on the horizon.

The visitors drew first blood with a Jarrod Evans penalty but it served only to spring Munster into action as their powerful pack started to go through the phases and put the Cardiff defence on the back foot.

A powerful run from Rory Scannell saw him cut his way through a series of would be Cardiff tacklers, before teeing up the Conor Murray to touch down at the base of the posts with Keatley adding the extras.

Evans responded with another fine long range penalty to cut the deficit to just one point. Minutes later, the visitors would hit the front.

Willis Halaholo’s decoy pass sent Cardiff’s route of attack out to the left flank but they slickly worked the ball back from whence it came, with the Blues constructing a two-on-one situation that allowed Steve Shingler to tee up Josh Turnbull for Cardiff’s only try of the game which Evans converted.

It was a well worked move but Munster will be concerned with the manner in which they conceded it. Despite winning 4 from 5 games, Munster have had some defensive lapses in their opening games. A fault that they will certainly want to irradiate with Leinster and Castres on the horizon.

Keatley landed a penalty on the half hour before Evans replied with another three pointer to push Cardiff’s lead back out to 16-10.

Another infringment was ruthlessly punished by the faultless Keatley to cut the gap to 16-13 heading into the break. It was a first half with lots of room for improvement.

After the interval, Munster opted for a succession of scrums as they strived for their second try of the game, with Cardiff receiving their first yellow card of the season as Taufa’ao Filise was penalised. Following an extended period of concerted pressure, Munster’s John Ryan lunged over the line with Keatley adding the extras.

Munster continued to cash in on their man advantage as, in the 56th minute, Scannell scythed through the Blues defence before offloading into the arms of JJ Hanrahan who dotted down for his first try since returning from Northampton with what was his first touch of the game. Keatley again converted.

With 78 minutes elapsed Munster turned the screw. Hanrahan and Murray combined down the Blues’ left flank, with former Cardiff player Robin Copeland – making his first start of the season – crossing to secure the bonus point try which Keatley converted.

Munster weren’t finished there as Murray and Keatley combined to tee up Hanrahan for his second try of the game to the delight of the Thomond Park crowed.

Job done and a bonus point win, but with plenty to work on as Leinster lie in way at the Aviva Stadium next weekend.