Mullins was delighted to gain revenge a year on

The Irish side were beaten by the Tigers in last year's European final after an illegal intervention by Neil Back in a late scrum went unnoticed.

Match report: Leicester 7-20 Munster

But on Sunday Munster hit back with a convincing 20-7 quarter-final win to book a showdown in the last four with Toulouse.

And Mullins said: "It is a bit of revenge for last year - pay-back time if you like - and to do it at Welford Road is even better.

"There was a lot of mucking around in the build-up to the game about ticket allocation, and it all added to our concentration to try and get one over on them.

It was not the fact that we lost, it was the manner in which we lost Leicester boss Dean Richards

"I thought that our fans outsung the 12,000-odd Leicester supporters who were in the ground."

Leicester looked a shadow of the side which won the event in the last two years.

Munster, in contrast, dominated in defence and on the attack, with Ronan O'Gara top scoring with 15 points.

Despite watching his side overwhelm the Tigers, Munster coach Alan Gaffney refused to downplay the calibre of their rivals.

Gaffney said: "I don't accept that Leicester are on the wane. They have outstanding players in their squad, but our guys stood up to them and were counted.

"Our first-half performance was a bit patchy and a bit panicky but, in the second-half, it was a lot better and our defence was very firm."

Leicester boss Dean Richards was full of praise for Munster.

He said: "Munster deserved to win. They played better than we did on the day, and played the game in the right areas.

"There were lots of unforced errors from us. Munster put a lot of pressure on us, and we didn't react.

"We just didn't turn up. It was not the fact that we lost, it was the manner in which we lost."