Munster battle hard but fade away in last 10 minutes against Stormers

Stormers 34 Munster 19 

Munster conceded a costly 13 points in the final 10 minutes of their URC clash with the Stormers in Cape Town Stadium, which ensured they got nothing for their considerable efforts on Saturday.

Munster were attacking and looking extremely dangerous in the 5th minute when a loose behind-the-back pass from Jack Crowley missed intended target Mike Haley and fell into the grateful hands of Suleiman Hartzenberg and the Stormers winger had the speed to run virtually the length of the pitch to open the scoring.

In the 12th minute, we had a repeat of last week’s disallowed try against Leinster when a flat pass by Crowley was collected by Haley, but before he could dot down in the right corner referee Mike Adamson blew his whistle, much to Munster’s frustration.

Eoghan Clarke had barely jogged onto the pitch when he had to take part in a scrum that completely dismantled the Stormers' pack to win a penalty, and seconds later he found Beirne from the resultant lineout, and was at the back of the maul to crash over in the 27th minute to give Munster the lead.

In the 33rd minute blindside Marcel Theunissen took a quick penalty 5m from the Munster line and burrowed over to reach the whitewash, to ensure that the home side led 14-12.

The Stormers struck first in the second half after Damien Williemse had survived an attempted tackle in midfield to keep the move flowing, with centre Ruhan Nel running in a quality try in the 47th minute.

Gavin Coombes only came into the match day 23 due to the late cry-off of Alex Nankivell, and he came off the pine to score in the 68th minute after a slick Conor Murray pass.

Williemse landed a penalty in the 74th minute to give the Stormers a five-point lead entering the final five minutes and two minutes later he slotted a brilliant drop goal after Munster had botched their restart, and Nel grabbed his second late on, to rub salt in the wounds.

Scorers for Stormers: D Williemse (1 pen, 1 drop, 4 cons), R Nel (2 tries), S Hartzenberg, M Theunissen (1 try each).  

Munster: J Crowley (2 cons), T Farrell, E Clarke, G Coombes (1 try each).

STORMERS: W Gelant; S Hartzenberg, R Nel, D du Plessis (c), L Zas; D Willemse, P de Wet; S Sithole, J Dweba, N Fouche; A Smith, JD Schickerling; M Theunissen, B-J Dixon, K Morabe.

Subs: B Harris and R van Heerden for S Sithole and A Smith(40), A-H Venter for J Dweba (51), H Jantjies for P de Wet (54), S Sande and D Ewers for N Fouche and K Morabe (60), L Nel for B-J Dixon (72).

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 (c); T Ahern, A Kendellen, J O'Donoghue.

Subs: E Clarke for N Scannell (24), N Scannell for E Clarke (35), B Burns for S Daly (47), K Ryan, S Archer and G Coombes for J Loughman, J Ryan and J O’Donoghue (50), E Clarke for N Scannell (60), F Wycherley for J Kleyn (64), N Scannell, R Quinn and E Coughlan for E Clarke, A Kendellen and C Murray (72).

Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU).