SLIDESHOW: On this day in 2009: Munster devour Sale Sharks at Thomond Park

HOLDERS Munster booked their place in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals for the seventh year running, courtesy of a 37-14 rout of Sale Sharks on this day, Janaury 16, 2009.

Paul O'Connell and Jerry Flannery got first-half tries for the Magners League leaders at Thomond Park and David Wallace, Lifeimi Mafi, Tomas O'Leary and Paul Warwick crossed after the break in a convincing bonus point win.

Those first half tries from Man of the Match O'Connell and hooker Flannery had Munster 12-6 to the good at half-time.

Sale, who failed to transfer their Guinness Premiership form into this do-or-die clash, closed the gap to 19-14 with a Charlie Hodgson try, but further touchdowns from Dowling, O'Leary and Warwick confirmed Munster's dominance.

Afterwards Paul O'Connell said: 

Munster captain Paul O'Connell said: "It was a very good performance although we got a few bounces of the ball - something we haven't been getting recently.

"We just really wanted it. We put a lot of ourselves into this week.

"After the (recent) game against Ulster, we started picking up on every single little detail that we could and it has benefited our performances over the last two weeks."

Munster: Warwick; Howlett, Earls, Mafi, Dowling, O'Gara, O'Leary; Horan, Flannery, Hayes; O'Callaghan, O'Connell (capt), Quinlan, Wallace, Leamy. Replacements: Fogarty (Flannery 76), Ryan (Quinlan 55), Ronan (Leamy 70), Stringer (O'Leary 71), Hurley (O'Gara), Pucciariello and Murphy not used.

Sale: Cueto, Bell, Tuilagi, McAlister, Doherty, Hodgson, Wigglesworth, Faure, Jones, Roberts, Chabal, Schofield, Jones, Briggs, Lobbe (captain). Replacements: Turner (Roberts 75), Sheridan (Faure 46), Cockbain (Schofield 46), Abraham (Jones 59), Peel (Wigglesworth 51), Keil (Tuilagi 28), Tait (Hodgson 62).