Munster the best yet says Greenwood

That is the assessment of former England star Will Greenwood who saw Saturday's bonus-point win over Perpignan as simply sensational.

Munster ran out 37-14 winners against the French Champions as they ended Perpignan's five-year unbeaten home run in the Heineken Cup.

And Greenwood, who was a central figure in England's World Cup winning squad in 2003, believes that Munster's performance has reaffirmed their position as one of the continent's leading lights.

"They out-muscled a team that never gets out-muscled and they showed cunning and guile," said Heineken Cup ambassador Greenwood.

"They had head-butts thrown at them, they kept their calm, they kept their nerve and they got under Perpignan's skin."

As well as praising the efforts of the squad as a whole, Greenwood gave glowing assessments of the individual performances of a number of key Munstermen after the double European Champions cemented their position at the top of Pool 1.

The former Harlequins and Leicester centre was particularly impressed by former Lions team-mates Paul O'Connell, David Wallace and Ronan O'Gara, as well as new signing Jean de Villiers, (who was one of four try scorers at the Stade Aime Giral) and fellow backs Paul Warwick and Keith Earls.

"Paul O'Connell was magnificent," added Greenwood.

"ROG [O'Gara] did what he does best and kicked some great kicks and when he got sin-binned Paul Warwick stepped in at fly-half, put a killer pass in and a little kick in to the corner. They just cranked up the pressure on Perpignan to play from deep.

"Jean de Villiers has come in on the back of a massively long season…and it's taken him a bit of time to get settled. It (the try) was classic de Villiers - the step off the right, a powerful hand-off and the understanding that as long as he didn't drop the ball he was going to score. So many people would have been trying to hand off or fend, just trust that at 16 stone you're going to get there.

"Earls showed some great pace and it gives them some options in that midfield to mix it up. Winning the Heineken Cup is a strong squad effort. If de Villiers can return to some of the form we know he's capable of, that allows Earls to switch to the wing or (Lifeimi) Mafi to switch back to outside-centre where he's a bit more comfortable.

"David Wallace was very modest at the end; he said it could have gone either way. It was only ever going one way. They could have played for another week; Munster would have won that game."

Greenwood was also hugely impressed by the performance of fellow Magners League title challengers Leinster after the Dubliners secured a second successive bonus-point win over the Scarlets.

Michael Cheika's men were 39-7 victors at the RDS despite the absence of first-choice fly-half Jonathan Sexton.

And with Sexton still missing following his heroics with Ireland in late November, Greenwood was full of admiration for stand in stand-off Shaun Berne.

"Leinster played with width, variety and tempo.

"I still don't understand why Bath let Berne go. He can play 10, 12 or 13 and slot in at fullback.

"His goal-kicking wasn't superb but he handled well and is a classic Australian; if it's on from my dead-ball line I'll go.

"He picks his moments to play and stands flat, a good, good player."