Michalak adds the final blow for Munster

Toulouse 13 Munster 1

From the moment their team overturned what seemed to be an insurmountable deficit to Gloucester in the pool stages, the red-shirted supporters of Munster had come to believe that they could convert water into a decent bottle of claret. Yesterday they discovered, not for the first time, that it was corked, rather than vintage.

Almost since its inception, the Heineken Cup has been Munster's holy grail, and they and their supporters have traipsed all over Europe in search of the elusive prize. That fanatical support has helped to lift the province in the most inhospitable corners, and this was one of them. Toulouse, who became champions of Europe seven years ago, eventually got home – they did not have far to go – by a goal and two penalties to three penalties and a drop goal. In terms of style, it was the artists against the artisans, but in terms of laying everything on the line this was another heartbreaker for Munster.

A couple of weeks ago Northampton came here in the quarter-final and were cooked alive in the cauldron that is the Stadium de Toulouse. Munster, by comparison, have become better travellers than Marco Polo. But, beaten narrowly in two of the last three finals, by Northampton at Twickenham and Leicester in Cardiff, they seem destined to be journeymen who never arrive.

They had reached this semi-final by the hardest possible route. After the miracle against Gloucester they defeated Leicester in the quarter-finals at Welford Road. Semi-finals are supposed to be at neutral venues, but the pre-eminent qualifiers in the Heineken Cup are rewarded with the staging of such matches in their own country. Hence Munster found themselves in France, not in a town close to Toulouse but in the city itself. The excuse for Toulouse is that this stadium is not actually their home ground. Try telling that to Munster.

The French club finally broke Munster's spirit after laying siege in the second half with the only try of the match, by Frédéric Michalak in the 74th minute, and it took a touchline conversion from the replacement Jean-Baptiste Elissalde to give them the lead for the first time. Toulouse will now play in the final at Lansdowne Road, Dublin, at the end of May, where they will meet the winners of today's second semi-final between Leinster and Perpignan.

Munster had no complaints whatsoever about the first half, unlike the majority of the crowd, who spent most of the time hitting English referee Chris White with a wall of noise. It started in the fifth minute, when he awarded the Irish a penalty on halfway.

At Thomond Park, Limerick, Munster's spiritual home, whenever anybody takes a kick at goal you can hear a euro drop. Not here. Ronan O'Gara, to a crescendo of booing, missed. It did not seem to bother him.

When Munster were awarded another penalty following a line-out offence, they elected to kick to touch, and mounted a series of attacks. It didn't get them very far, but O'Gara, having earlier been floored by Fabien Pelous, got up to drop a goal.

Munster increased their lead after 17 minutes when they stole a Toulouse line-out and forced the French to concede another penalty, which O'Gara duly kicked.

When Toulouse finally got their hands on the ball they produced a brilliant move, but when it broke down Pelous angrily remonstrated with full-back Clement Poitrenaud. There was more danger when they created a clear overlap, but they foundered when Xavier Garbajosa delivered a dreadful pass.

Delaigue and O'Gara both failed with penalty attempts before Toulouse created another chance, Delaigue making the break, followed by a brilliant switch to Garbajosa. But when the centre flung a pass to his right all he found in support was the prop Patrice Collazo, who managed to knock it on.

Toulouse, though, were getting more and more into the game, and when their forwards, who had spent most of the half on the back foot, wheeled a Munster scrum to get the put-in they won a penalty, which Delaigue converted from close range to make it 6-3 at half-time.

In the second half, after the dark clouds and rain had broken, Toulouse looked a different team. A second drop goal from O'Gara made it 9-3 and Jim Williams, Munster's captain, was in the right place at the right time to prevent Garbajosa from scoring as the ball rolled over the Munster line. But after 56 minutes Toulouse narrowed the gap to three points when Elissalde, who had come on for Delaigue, kicked a penalty. On a rare incursion into French territory O'Gara restored Munster's six-point advantage with a long-range penalty, but the Irish were coming under increasing pressure.

Toulouse came desperately close in the 66th minute, following an inside pass from Michalak to Garbajosa. The centre crashed over the line, but as he did so was tackled by Peter Stringer. It took a decision from the video referee to decide that Garbajosa had not grounded the ball.

However, Toulouse finally cracked the magnificent Munster defence when Michalak, following attacks from virtually every angle, dived over against a team that had run out of defenders. The move contained a dropped pass, but no knock-on was given. That made it 12-11 and Elissalde converted from the touchline to give Toulouse the lead for the first time. With eight minutes of injury time Munster still had a chance to snatch it, but O'Gara twice failed with long-range drop-goal attempts. Once again they made one of the cruellest exits.

Toulouse 13 Munster 12
Try: Michalak; Pens: O'Gara 2
Drops: O'Gara 2
Cons: Elissalde
Pens: Delaigue, Elissalde

Half-time: 3-6 Attendance: 20,000

Toulouse: C Poitrenaud; E Ntamack (C Heymans, 57), X Garbajosa, Y Jauzion, V Clerc; Y Delaigue (J-B Elissalde, 53), F Michalak; P Collazo (B Lecouls, 61), Y Bru (W Servat, 71), J-B Poux, D Gerard, F Pelous (capt), T Brennan, C Labit (F Maka, 80), J Bouilhou.

Munster: J Staunton; J Kelly, M Mullins, R Henderson (J Holland, 81), A Horgan; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell, J Williams (capt), A Foley, A Quinlan.

Referee: C White (England).