On the day the organisers confirmed that only the top team in the Northern Conference will make the final of the Rainbow Cup, Munster let their commanding position slip away in the rain at Thomond Park.

Connacht earned this win through a gutsy, tough performance but they rode their luck as the home side gifted them two tries through their own inaccuracy and failed to make their superior pack count on the scoreboard.

Andy Friend hailed his Connacht charges for their response to the Leinster loss. “It’s a proud day because there has been a lot going on this season and this last week," he said.

"The way we capitulated last Saturday, we weren’t proud of that. And then to come to Thomond Park against a pretty good Munster side, you know what lies ahead of you. I thought jersey one to 23 stood up there tonight. I thought they were immense.

“We talked about it in the sheds afterwards and that’s the best I’ve seen us play for 80 minutes.

"Listen, there were a few rockets placed up peoples’ backsides during the week but that’s the response you want. We have Leinster again now and we have to make sure we can be proud of that.”

Considering Friend’s side were the better team when the teams last played here in January, they won’t lose any sleep and their work-rate and defensive solidity was all the more impressive for the fact they collapsed against Leinster and shipped 50 points at home last week.

Munster sent on the cavalry, but they couldn’t reel their visitors in and now face a scrap for top spot.

In conditions more akin to mid-winter than May, Connacht started well with the wind at their backs and out-half Conor Fitzgerald kicked his side into a lead after just two minutes.

Having watched Leinster dismantle the Westerners’ tight-five a week previously, Munster decided to test their mettle themselves and after pinning their visitors’ in to their own half with a good kick-off and chase they attacked off the lineout with an effective series of carries until James Cronin barrelled over from close range.

Ben Healy converted, but his side committed the cardinal sin of failing to deal with the kick-off and the consequences were disastrous as Sammy Arnold pounced on Shane Daly’s spill and ran over Craig Casey to score.

Fitzgerald nailed the touchline conversion and, after surviving a Munster visit to their ’22 after their scrum worryingly crumbled, the away side caught a break as Daly deliberately knocked on a Fitzgerald pass and was handed 10 minutes in the sin-bin.

Connacht looked to make their advantage pay and Damian De Allende played Kiaran Marmion after Wootton had made big gains up the left to give them a perfect attacking platform.

Fitzgerald put the ball in the corner and, while the hosts dealt with the maul, Marmion found Tom Daly and from his pull-back pass the out-half glided between De Allende and Dan Goggin to score his first senior try.

He converted and again Munster looked to hit back. A helter-skelter moment saw Healy skate up the left, find Matt Gallagher who offloaded to Casey but Wootton stepped in and picked up the loose ball, racing out of his own ’22 but his attempt to find John Porch went forward.

That meant Munster had a scrum and they once again asserted their dominance and, while Connacht dealt with the first wave, Niall Murray got caught offside and when they went to the corner the Reds’ maul powered over for Rhys Marshall to touch down.

Healy converted and after Friend replaced both props before half-time the Westerners managed their way to half-time with a half-time lead.

They extended it 44 seconds after the restart as Cian Prendergast hacked on a loose Casey pass and it bounced kindly for Marmion who raced over before hurling the ball at Healy.

That meant Munster got a penalty once Fitzgerald had converted, but Marshall’s overthrow let Connacht off the hook. It was the first of a series of moments of profligacy from the home side who spent most of the next 10 minutes in Connacht territory but had a Peter O’Mahony try ruled out and let the ball squirt out of the back of a 5m scrum.

Healy nailed a penalty from 3m inside his own half to make it a seven-point game and van Graan sent on his Lions Conor Murray and Tadhg Beirne.

Fitzgerald then heaped pressure on his side by kicking the restart into touch and, when Munster’s scrum earned another penalty, Healy this time found touch 7m out.

Connacht dealt with the first effort, but again they gave up a penalty. Munster went for the scrum, but the green wall held as Denis Buckley won a big turnover to relieve the pressure after Beirne got isolated.

Van Graan sent Carbery on and as conditions worsened the out-half narrowed the gap to four after Sean O’Brien came into a ruck from the side.

Munster thought they’d broken the game their way when Carbery found Andrew Conway with a beautiful cross-kick after a surging O’Mahony run up the left, but a Television Match Official Joy Neville spotted a De Allende knock-on that kept Connacht in front.

Successive penalties meant Connacht had a tm lineout to close it out, but O’Mahony picked Dave Heffernan’s throw off and Porch knocked on seconds later the home side were able to go in search of the winning score.

They couldn’t make the territory count, coughing up possession three times in the last five minutes thanks to their own mistakes and Connacht’s pressure.

Beirne’s brilliant turnover penalty earned them one last chance for Carbery to kick for territory and, when Prendergast made a no-arms tackle, the out-half kicked his side to within 10m of the line.

Connacht dealt with the maul and when Stephen Archer knocked on the game was done.

Van Graan lamented his side's inability to make their pressure count. “Look we got over the line but we could not get the points," he said.

"It was two evenly matched teams but they had a strong bench as well. Like I said, when the rain came it took a way a lot of continuity in the game. It became a tactical game and I said to the guys we played in the right areas of the pitch, and we just couldn’t score a try at the end.

“You have got to take that on the chin. We have to review that and move on.”

Munster: M Gallagher (K Earls 67); A Conway, D Goggin, D de Allende, S Daly; B Healy (J Carbery 63), C Casey (C Murray 14-28, 53); J Cronin (D Kilcoyne 58), R Marshall (N Scannell 48), J Ryan (S Archer 58); J Kleyn (F Wycherley 77), B Holland (T Beirne 53); J O’Donoghue, P O'Mahony (capt), CJ Stander.

Connacht: J Porch, S Arnold (P Sullivan 71), S O’Brien, T Daly (capt), A Wootton; C Fitzgerald (J Carty 56), K Marmion (C Blade 66); P McAllister (D Buckley 8-17, 40), S Delahunt (D Heffernan 56), D Robertson-McCoy (D Buckley 40); N Murray, U Dillane, C Prendergast, C Oliver (S Masterson 47), A Papali’I (E Masterson 71).

Referee: Dan Jones (WRU).