By Gareth Roberts BBC Sport at the Cardiff City Stadium
Fly-half Ronan O'Gara kicked all of Munster's points against Cardiff Blues
Munster held on to a place in the Magners League play-offs at the Cardiff Blues' expense despite losing at Blues.
Jamie Roberts crashed over midway through the first half as Blues chased the win that would have allowed them to leapfrog their Irish opponents.
But Ronan O'Gara's four penalties gave Munster a slender 12-10 half-time lead.
A nervy second period ended with Leigh Halfpenny's long-range penalty giving Blues the win, but Munster's losing bonus point kept their season alive.
Munster will now face Irish rivals Leinster in next weekend's play-offs, after the Dubliners came from behind to beat Edinburgh and reclaim top spot in the final league table.
With the Blues falling short, Wales' hopes in the play-offs now rest with the Ospreys who will play their semi-final at home against Glasgow on Friday.
Injuries stripped Munster of a host of front-line stars, including skipper Paul O'Connell and wing Doug Howlett while the Blues were at near-full strength with only scrum-half and tight-head prop injury crises to affect selection.
But not untypically, Munster were first to put pressure on the opposition line as flanker Nick Williams stole away from a ruck in the home 22 before being forced into touch by Ben Blair's tackle.
Blues' number eight Xavier Rush, playing his last home game before joining Ulster, underlined the qualities that have made him such a favourite in Cardiff, bursting 35 metres in a move that ended with Blair having the game's first penalty kick chance.
But after that long-range effort went wide Munster returned to the home 22 only to concede their platform when wing Tom Gleeson fumbled Ceri Sweeney's clearance.
Blair broke the stalemate after the Blues' first sustained attack, punishing Munster for operating illegally at a ruck.
But Munster struck back almost immediately and after a lifeless five minutes O'Gara's huge clearance caught Halfpenny off guard, leading to an attacking Munster scrum in the shadow of the Blues' posts.
The hosts repelled the danger, then took play to the other end of the field where Sweeney rewarded his forwards' work with a half-break that gave Casey Laulala the chance to create enough space for Roberts to barge over with Donncha O'Callaghan clinging on.
Blair converted, but O'Gara's boot ensured Munster went into the break 12-10 ahead with three penalties in the opening period's last 10 minutes.
That was not the only area in which O'Gara's boot was influential. He took every opportunity to drive the Blues back with his renowned tactical kicking as the host all-too-often gifted hard-won possession.
However, Munster were increasingly guilty of cynical play. Gleeson's tackle on Blair while the full-back was in the air brought howls of derision from home fans.
Blues lament bittersweet win
Gleeson survived the calls for him to be sin-binned, but prop Marcus Horan was not so fortunate after 14 minutes as he deliberately tapped the ball down from Darren Allinson's hands.
That act broke referee Peter Alan's patience, giving the Blues 10 minutes in which to make their advantage count.
They failed to do so after Sweeney cut through and despite an increase in intensity, the home side's line-out failings and inability to sustain pressure on Munster's resolute defence continued to frustrate Dai Young's men.
Blues prop Gethin Jenkins' tackle on O'Gara as his erstwhile British and Irish Lions colleague took a high ball was a highlight of the second half.
But while Munster's discipline cost them, the Blues also fell foul of Scottish official Alan on too many occasions. Munster were also a match for the tactical variations the hosts threw at them.
Centre Jean de Villiers was denied a try-scoring by a forward pass and at the other end Dafydd Hewitt was beaten to Martyn Williams' hack ahead after Jamie Roberts led an attack.
Laulala was unable to get to a loose ball, Rush tried and failed to break through and Roberts knocked on to end another promising attack.
Paul Warwick fluffed a drop-goal attempt for Munster and Halfpenny's long-range penalty finally sealed victory for the hosts, but left them rueing what might have been as Munster secured their place in the play-offs.
Blues boss Dai Young: "Well it was a win, but we didn't play anything like we have done over the last two or three months, that's the disappointing factor.
"We knew what Munster were going to do. Obviously they target the tackle area, they really slowed everything down there, stopped us getting any quick ball, but we caused ourselves a lot of problems.
"Our accuracy wasn't quite there. We were untidy and lacked a lot of control in most of the things we did, things which have served us really well over the last two to three months.
"It was nice to win, but it would have been nicer - even if we hadn't gone through [to the play-offs] - to win with a bit more style."
Blues: Ben Blair; Leigh Halfpenny, Casey Laulala, Jamie Roberts, Chris Czekaj; Ceri Sweeney, Darren Allinson; Gethin Jenkins, Rhys Thomas, Scott Andrews, Deiniol Jones, Paul Tito (capt), Maama Molitika, Martyn Williamsm Xavier Rush. Replacements: Gareth Williams for Thomas (53), John Yapp for Andrews (72), Bradley Davies for Tito (53), Sam Warburton for Molitika (75), Lloyd Williams for Allinson (59), Dai Flanagan, Dafydd Hewitt for Czekaj (25).
Munster: Scott Deasy; Denis Hurley, Lifeimi Mafi, Jean de Villiers, Tom Gleeson; Ronan O'Gara, Peter Stringer; Marcus Horan, Damien Varley, Tony Buckley, Donncha O'Callaghan, Billy Holland, Nick Williams, Niall Ronan, David Wallace. Replacements: Mike Sherry, Dave Ryan, Alan Quinlan for N. Williams (70), James Coughlan for Wallace (59), Tomas O'Leary for Stringer (61), Paul Warwick for Gleeson (59), Danny Barnes for D. Hurley (77).
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