Munster invoked the famous spirit of their 1978 predecessors but ultimately it wasn't quite enough as the All Blacks came back to snatch a nerve-wracking and precious 18-16 victory in Limerick today.
Down 13-16 with four minutes left, the All Blacks finally kept their cool to engineer an overlap for left wing Joe Rokocoko to step inside his old teammate Doug Howlett and score the winning try.
The 30th anniversary of Munster's 12-nil win - the only Irish win over the All Blacks - certainly lived up to its billing.
U2's Bono, dancer Michael Flatley and golfer Padraig Harrington were reportedly among the 26,000 capacity crowd.
For sheer competitiveness, rivalry and intensity, this was the match of the spring tour so far.
It was retro rugby and it was wonderful - there were scuffles, words in the face of French referee Roman Poite, fallen bodies littering the field at times and a potent mix of passion and skills.
Munster reproduced the '78 recipe of in-your-face defence, kick and chase and general hustle and bustle to rattle the young New Zealanders and pressure them into mistakes.
The multi-million dollar All Blacks machine tried to play million-dollar football from the word go and for most of the match that fell short against the old-school approach of the home side.
There was an electric atmosphere with a tribal element from Munster's famous Red Army of supporters who made up most of the sellout crowd of 26,000.
They went wild when their resident Kiwis Howlett, Lifeimi Mafi and Rua Tipoki along with local Jeremy Manning got in first with their own haka that produced a stirring reply to the Ka Mate from the All Blacks.
Despite missing several frontline players on test duties for Ireland, Munster came into the match with form, having won nine of their last 10 matches including two Heineken Cup matches where they are the defending champions.
And with the All Blacks resting the bulk of their stars ahead of the test with Ireland this weekend the match had an even appeal to it. And so it proved.
The All Blacks were guilty of trying to play too much rugby.
Stephen Donald produced an attacking approach from first five but might have been better to opt for a more conservative system at times. Where were the kicks for the corners and the easy options of field position? Three missed penalties and a conversion kept the tourists on edge right to the final whistle.
Tipoki was as fired up as he ever was for the New Zealand Maori side before he was forced off with injury after 52 minutes and Howlett was full of endeavour although he will rue that missed tackle.
Scott Waldrom and Liam Messam had busy matches in a game made for loose forwards while the big tight men Jamie Mackintosh and Ross Filipo also produced some worthy defence.
Isaia Toeava was the pick of a wobbly backline.
Munster ripped into it from the opening whistle and got on the board after eight minutes with a 48m penalty from Paul Warwick.
Donald settled the Kiwi nerves with a reply soon after.
But Munster, with good use of their kick-and-chase game continued to dominate field position and earned another penalty which Warwick goaled from close range.
He then stunned the All Blacks with a 45m dropped goal.
But that finally stirred New Zealand into action. The got within the shadow of the posts with some direct running from Toeava and Donald darted through a gap to score by the posts. His conversion gave the All Blacks the lead for the first time at 10-9.
It was short-lived as Munster took the attack back to the All Blacks and won two five-metre scrums from which they scored on the second with wing Barry Murphy given a quick overlap on the blindside to score.
They continued to rattle the All Blacks for a 16-10 lead at the break.
New Zealand did well at the restart and quickly got three more points from the boot of Donald.
The All Blacks brought on Keiran Read and John Afoa to help steady the ship. Debutants Hikawera Elliott and Alby Mathewson along with Richard Kahui were thrown into the fire for the final quarter.
As the clock ticked down with no alteration to the score, Brad Thorn and Mils Muliaina were introduced as well.
With six minutes left the All Blacks got a penalty 48m out and opted for the lineout. It proved a wise move as they set up Rokocoko's face-saving touchdown.
The ghosts of 1978 were rattled rather than laid completely to rest. Let's have a rematch!
New Zealand 18 (Stephen Donald, Joe Rokcooko tries; Donald con, 2 pen) bt Munster 16 (Barry Murphy try; Paul Warwick con, 2 pen, dg).
HT: 16-10
Referee: Roman Poite
Crowd: 26,000
Weather: Clear but cold.
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