The 30-year-old lock led from the front as the Red Army triumphed 37-14 at Stade Aime Giral to end the French side's interest in the Heineken Cup.

And after restoring Munster to the top of Pool One, O'Connell insists his side are finally hitting their straps.

“We have been getting a lot of flak at the moment and that’s just the way it is. If you are not playing well, then you will get criticism,” said O’Connell, whose side lost 24-23 to Perpignan at Thomond a week earlier.

“Last week we did a lot of things well and we felt we conceded some soft tries and the scoreboard did not reflect that.

“But we trained well in the week and the coaches gave us a game plan on how to win. We just had to go out and do it. It's a great day for us.

“We put a lot of hard work into the game and we had a big work ethic, especially at the breakdown.

“We were patient and once we transferred what we’d been doing on the training ground onto the pitch, then we knew we’d play well.”