Saracens reached their third Champions Cup final in four years with a decisive, if hard-fought, victory over Munster, who fell at this stage for the third season bin a row. Billy Vunipola, who received a warning at the start of the week from his club and England for liking a homophobic social media post by Israel Folau, scored one of their two tries and was named the man of the match, but after the game finished he was confronted by a spectator.

After the hostile reception Vunipola received at Bristol the previous week, it is a reaction he and his club are going to have to deal with on the road, if only for the short time it takes for such a storm to move on. They were no more unsettled than an elephant when a gnat settles on its back, putting the squeeze on Munster from the start and dominating throughout.

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It was to Munster’s credit that it was not until Vunipola’s try nine minutes from time that they accepted that their interest in a tournament they so cherish was going to end at the semi-final stage once again. Even then they fought on, no longer boats against the current but men overboard. They had forced Saracens to dig deep into their reserves of determination and desire but the gulf in class was always going to take some bridging on a day when conditions were never going to be a leveller.

Saracens were on the front foot from the kick-off after making Munster play into the sun and the very different ways the Premiership side played the opening of the two halves laid the foundation for victory. In the first, they used Ben Spencer to send kicks high into the air: he did so the first four times he touched the ball, leaving full-back Mike Haley with the difficulty of sighting the ball as a cortège of chasers encircled him.

The result was three drops, the second of which led to Owen Farrell opening the scoring with a penalty after CJ Stander had played the ball in an offside position. Haley may have been used to Saracens after his time with Sale, but the tone had been set and his afternoon was to end early. The precision of Spencer’s kicks contrasted with the more hurried nature of those by his opposite number, Conor Murray, reflecting the control Saracens exerted.

Saracens had to make a late change just before the start when Sean Maitland suffered a hamstring strain during the warm-up and was replaced by David Strettle, while their captain, Brad Barritt, who in the quarter-final against Glasgow suffered a knee injury he feared would end his season, lasted only 40 minutes. It was, though, about the machine rather than man. It gobbled up Munster and spat them out.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Michael Rhodes on his way to scoring Saracens’ opening try. Photograph: David Rogers/Getty Images

The opening minutes of the second half were a contrast to the start of the match. Haley’s 22 was wrapped in shadow so Saracens kept the ball in hand and set up phase after phase, making a metre or two every other rumble and fatiguing their opponents on an unseasonably hot afternoon. The temperature reached 23C when the prop Titi Lamositele, who had been picked ahead of Vincent Koch because of his ability in the loose, launched a raid on the left wing.

Pace was not a feature of his contribution but he took out a couple of defenders and ensured quick possession. Munster had no time to set their defensive wall and the prop John Ryan had the choice of two potential receivers to tackle. He went for the wrong one and Michael Rhodes had an unopposed run to the line. Saracens were 19-9 ahead and, for all Munster’s desperate defiance and their supporters’ unwavering spirit, on their way to the final.

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Munster may be a level below Saracens and Leinster but they invariably give everything. They stayed in touch in the first half despite having only 40% possession and less territory, level at 9-9 at one point through two Tyler Bleyendaal penalties and a long-range one from Murray in reply to three from Farrell.

Saracens went into the interval ahead when Peter O’Mahony’s deliberate knock-on was turned into three points by Farrell but the 12-9 score did not reflect their superiority. When they led by 16 points after 53 minutes when Farrell followed Rhodes’s try with two more penalties, it looked ominous for Munster.

They had to score next and did when Saracens messed up a scrum in their 22. Murray reacted more quickly than Spencer when the ball squirted out and with Sarries not set up defend, Chris Farrell’s long pass to Darren Sweetnam allowed the wing to wrong-foot Alex Goode and score in the corner. The crowd, which was three-quarters behind Munster, found its voice, but not for long.

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Billy Vunipola had been booed on the many occasions he touched the ball and nine minutes from time, as the opposing bodies tired, he forced his way over. Munster’s resistance was finally quashed and Saracens had made their third European final in four seasons.

There was time for Koch to be sent to the sin-bin for a neck roll on Tadhg Beirne, although it appeared to be a joint production with Marco Itoje. It might have been more even had Saracens played with 14 men from the kick-off and it was Munster’s credit that they managed to minimise the difference between the sides. A final against Leinster would, in contrast, be a meeting of equals.