URC: Munster 21 Stormers 27
Regrets, Munster will have a pocketful, not least a failure to score in the second half, having taken a 21-6 lead into the interval. It was a clash between the two unbeaten teams in the URC, first versus second in the table, and was the ubiquitous game of two halves.
The Stormers, without a handful of their marquee players who were in action for South Africa against Wales at the Principality Stadium, produced a spirited second-half performance, scoring 21 points with reply through tries Adré Smith, Dylan Maart and Ruhan Nel for a fourth away win, and arguably their best, in six matches this season.
Munster looked to have rescued a victory when Craig Casey’s brilliant crosskick sent Tom Farrell over for a try late on, superbly converted by Jack Crowley, but the TMO Matteo Lipperini drew attention to a knock-on by the outhalf in the build-up.
A foundation stone for the Stormers’ victory was laid by their scrum, who were utterly dominant, and the decision by Stormers’ head coach John Dobson to bring on six forwards at once just after the restart. Munster will look at chances that went abegging and that’ll hurt and perhaps in not punishing the visitors’ ill-discipline a little more.
RM Block
Munster scored three first-half tries through Tadhg Beirne, replacement John Hodnett and Crowley, with the outhalf converting all three. Tom Ahern, Fineen Wycherley and Gavin Coombes excelled in that period while Crowley, Farrell and Thaakir Abrahams added plenty of flavour to the Munster attack.
Coombes’s second-half yellow card and an intercept try were standout moments for the wrong reasons.
Diarmuid Kilgallen’s excellent break was a statement of intent, and the home side got a significant dividend when the Stormers lost secondrow Connor Evans to a yellow card for a blatant pullback on the supporting Ahern. Crowley made a scruffy contact with his penalty kick at goal as the chance went untaken.
Three minutes later Stormers outhalf Jurie Matthee demonstrated his power in landing a penalty from the halfway line after Munster were pinged at a ruck.
The home side responded emphatically. Abrahams worked off his blindside wing into the midfield, the Stormers were slow and aimless in their realignment, Coombes found a gap, Beirne took the pass and dummied the last defender to touch down for a try that Crowley converted.
Jack O’Donoghue went off for a head injury assessment after copping an accidental knee to the head and didn’t return. Matthee’s second penalty was a reward for mincing the Munster scrum while a man down.
Munster were playing with a lovely attacking rhythm and width, Abrahams and Ahern featuring prominently on either touchline. And after a brief hiatus in the action for a shemozzle, the home side were back into their stride, but hooker Diarmuid Barron couldn’t hang on to a pass with the tryline beckoning.
The Stormers conceded a series of penalties, received a warning that ultimately cost them a second yellow card for flanker Marcel Theunissen on 19 minutes and within 60 seconds Munster grabbed a second try through Hodnett, who bounced a couple of tacklers, before reaching over the line. It survived a check by the TMO.
Crowley converted to push his side out to a 14-6 lead through the first quarter. The two yellow card periods would cost the South African side 21 points. Matthee missed a penalty after the Stormers squeezed the Munster scrum again, the only area of the game in which the home side looked mildly discommoded.
On 28 minutes Munster scored a doozy of a try. Farrell surged through a gap on a lovely cutback line, while Casey accepted the pass and raced upfield. Coombes took play to within a few metres of the Stormers’ line and from a quick ruck, Crowley surged over. The outhalf converted just before the visitors were restored to their full complement of players.
Munster’s lineout led by Ahern and Wycherley continued to pick off the odd opposition throw. Stormers had a try correctly chalked out for blocking in a lineout maul six minutes into the second half, 120 seconds after they had sprang six players from the bench, all forwards.
A scrum penalty – at this point the Stormers had a reasonable gripe about there not being an escalation in sanction – and then another after Munster brought on new frontrow resources gave the Stormers access to the home side’s 22.
Munster suffered a double whammy, conceding a try to Smith, converted by Matthee, and a yellow card for Coombes for a silly attempted foot trip. Over-eagerness at the scrum cost the Stormers good field position, while Farrell’s game management and footballing skills ensured a little respite.
However, the visitors got a deserved second try, Matthee’s beautifully weighted crosskick was caught by right wing Maart who won the race to the tryline. The Stormers’ outhalf tagged on a super conversion to make it 21-20 with a little over 10 minutes remaining.
Thomond Park was stunned into silence three minutes later. Crowley laid off a pass out the back for a wraparound move, but Stormers centre Ruhan Nel read his intention, intercepted and raced 55 metres to score under the posts.
Matthee converted to push the South African side out to a 27-21 lead but Munster’s unbeaten run this season has been founded on resilience in adversity from time to time, and it looked like that characteristic surfaced once again when Casey’s gorgeous crosskick picked out Farrell and the centre raced over for a try.
However, after Crowley had kicked a brilliant conversion, TMO Lipperini called the referee’s attention to a knock-on by the Munster outhalf in the build-up. A Munster knock-on and an umpteenth scrum penalty gave the Stormers a lineout two metres inside the home side’s half from where they ran down the clock for a remarkable win.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 5 mins: Matthee pen, 0-3; 7: Beirne try, Crowley con, 7-3; 11: Matthee pen, 7-6; 19: Hodnett try, Crowley con, 14-6; 28: Crowley try, Crowley con, 21-6. Half-time: 21-6. 58: Smith try, Matthee con, 21-13; 68: Maart try, Matthee con, 21-20; 71: Nel try, Matthee con, 21-27.
MUNSTER: Shane Daly; Diarmuid Kilgallen, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Thaakir Abrahams; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Diarmuid Barron, John Ryan; Tom Ahern, Fineen Wycherley; Tadhg Beirne (capt), Jack O’Donoghue, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: John Hodnett for O’Donoghue (HIA, 10 mins); Niall Scannell for Barron, Michael Milne for Loughman (both 54); Edwin Edogbo for Wycherley (58); Ronan Foxe for Ryan, Dan Kelly for Nankivell (both 61).
Yellow card: Gavin Coombes (58 mins).
STORMERS: Warrick Gelant; Dylan Maart, Wandisile Simelane, Ruhan Nel, Leolin Zas; Jurie Matthee, Stefan Ungerer; Vernon Matongo, André-Hugo Venter, Neethling Fouché; Salmaan Moerat (capt), Connor Evans; Paul de Villiers, Marcel Theunissen, Evan Roos
Replacements: JJ Kotzé for Venter, Oli Kebble for Matongo, Sazi Sandi for Fouché, Adré Smith for Moerat, JD Schickerling for Evans, Ruan Ackermann for Theunissen (all 44 mins); Dewaldt Duvenage for Ungerer (59).
Yellow cards: Connor Evans (2 mins); Marcel Theunissen (19).
Referee: A Piardi (Italy).
