URC Rd 5: Stormers 34 Munster 19
Munster head coach Graham Rowntree says they have a huge game on their hands next week against the Sharks after they paid the price for an error-strewn performance in Cape Town which saw them fall to their third defeat in their opening five URC games.
Munster, despite large problems in the lineout and scrum throughout, looked set to maintain their winning record against the Stormers when Conor Murray set up Gavin Coombes for a try which brought them within two points of the home side with 12 minutes remaining.
But just as Munster looked set to complete a successful comeback having narrowed the deficit to 21-19, they imploded in the closing stages as both sides chased a winning score and a try bonus point having touched down three times each.
Coombes coughed up a penalty five minutes from time which saw Damian Willemse extend the Stormers lead to 24-19 and then after they turned over possession when Jack Crowley failed to go 10 metres with the restart, Willemse landed a drop goal to push them eight in front three minutes from time.
A Munster try would have secured two bonus points but disaster struck and Billy Burns’s pass was intercepted and Ruhan Nel ran in for his second try of the clash in front of 28,000 in Cape Town.
“We just killed ourselves there, we just killed ourselves,” said Rowntree afterwards. “I thought we were in that game at half-time and in the second half we had our opportunities with a lineout to nail them but we couldn’t do it and we started giving away penalties in the scrum.
“There is a hugely frustrating and down dressingroom there and for good reason. I thought we were in that and suddenly we weren’t.
“I just said to the lads in there we will stick together and be strong and own up to the stuff we are not doing but we are not going to fall apart. We have a huge game next week now.”
The Stormers led by 14-12 at the end of the opening half, having been gifted the opening try after six minutes when a promising Munster move broke down when an out-the-back pass from Crowley failed to find Mike Haley and Suleman Hartzenberg pounced to intercept and race from his own 22 to score.
Willemse added the conversion but Munster, who were forced into a late change when Alex Nankivell cried off, with Seán O’Brien coming into the centre and Coombes added to the bench in a six-two replacements bench.
Tom Farrell continued his great form since his summer move from Connacht when a Shane Daly block down set up a chance which the centre finished.
Munster hit the front when replacement hooker Eoghan Clarke finished off a good lineout move in the left corner to lead 12-7.
But the Stormers led at the break by two points when flanker Marcel Theunissen squeezed under Jean Kleyn and Tom Ahern to score a try following a tap and go.
Super hands through five passes sent Nel through for his first try seven minutes after the restart to open up a 21-12 lead but they failed to close out the game despite Munster’s set-piece Troubles.
John Dobson’s side looked set to pay the price in their first home game of the season when Coombes scored. But with Crowley struggling at outhalf and the Munster set-piece disintegrating, the Stormers turned the screw and inflicted a painful defeat on Rowntree’s side, who will now have a difficult task to regroup as they head to Durban next week.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 6 mins: Hartzenberg try, Willemse con, 7-0; 18: Farrell try, Crowley con, 7-7; 26: Clarke try, 7-12; 34: Theunissen try, Willemse con, 14-12; Half-time: 14-12; 47: R Nel try, Willemse con, 21-12; 69: Coombes try, Crowley con, 21-19; 75: Willemse pen, 24-19; 77: Willemse drop goal, 27-19; 82: R Nel try, Willemse con, 34-19.
STORMERS: W Gelant; S Hartzenberg, R Nel, D du Plessis (capt), L Zas; D Willemse, P de Wet; T Sithole, J Dweba, N Fouche; A Smith, JD Schickerling; M Theunissen, BJ Dixon, K Morabe.
Replacements: R van Heerdan for Schickerling (48 mins); AH Venter for Dweba (50); H Jantjies for de Wet (54); S Sandi for Fouche (60); B Harris for Sithole (66); L Nel for Dixon (72), D Ewers for Morabe (76).
MUNSTER: M Haley; C Nash, T Farrell, S O’Brien, S Daly; J Crowley, C Murray; J Loughman, N Scannell, J Ryan; J Kleyn, T Beirne (capt); T Ahern, A Kendellen, J O’Donoghue.
Replacements: E Clarke for Scannell (25-35 mins); B Burns for Daly (48); G Coombes for O’Donoghue, Clarke for Scannell, S Archer for J Ryan (all 50); K Ryan for Loughman (65); R Quinn for Kendellen (67); Scannell for Clarke, E Coughlan for Murray, F Wycherley for Kleyn (all 72).
Referee: M Adamson (Scotland).
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