Munster secure trip to Glasgow in URC quarters after dramatic Durban recovery
Malakai Fekitoa of Munster is tackled during the United Rugby Championship match between Cell C Sharks and Munster at Hollywoodbets Kings Park Stadium in Durban, South Africa. Photo by Darren Stewart/Sportsfile
A massive second half shift from Munster, in which they overturned a 19-3 halftime deficit to earn a 22-22 draw against the Sharks at King’s Park earned the tourists two valuable bonus points.
Those two precious points pushed Munster to 55 points on the standings and ahead of the Bulls and out of reach of Connacht to secure fifth in the United Rugby Championship (URC) standings. It means an away quarterfinal against Glasgow in a fortnight instead of another trip to South Africa to face the Stormers.
Despite two yellow cards for wing Shane Daly and captain Peter O’Mahony, Munster still found a way to eke out a vital result. After last week’s win over the Stormers in Cape Town, seven log points from two games in South Africa was a fantastic outcome.
For the Sharks it was a shattering result as they ended eighth and will have to face Leinster in Dublin. Worse, they missed out on a Champions Cup place next season. They simply fell apart after halftime in the face of excellent Munster play and their own shortcomings.
The Sharks’ discipline fell off a cliff after halftime and they seemed to lose all confidence at the slightest bit of Munster pressure after the break.
They made a litany of unforced errors, kicking penalties dead and failing to control possession. It was shambolic at times, but Munster applied pressure and asked tough questions, which the Sharks failed to answer.
It looked like Munster were out of the contest at the break, and even three minutes into the second half when Sharks fullback Boeta Chamberlain slotted a penalty to make it 22-3 to the home side.
Munster looked to be done, but in keeping with their upturn in form of recent weeks, they never stopped coming despite first half set piece struggles.
Their route back into the match started when Sharks wing Aphelele Fassi stopped a sure try scoring pass close to his line. He was sin-binned and a penalty try awarded. Munster were alive.
They controlled possession from then on and forced the Sharks into more than 100 second half tackles. Despite solid defence the home side could not plug every gap.
From a lineout drive, the preferred weapon of choice for both teams, right wing Calvin Nash hacked ahead and scored in the corner. Suddenly there was only a converted try in it and that duly arrived in the 65th minute.
From another rolling maul the Sharks somehow held Munster’s big lads up close to the line, but the ever alert Conor Murray dotted down and Ben Healy converted to level the scores.
In the first half, the Sharks shrugged off the loss of captain Siya Kolisi in under 10 minutes to what looked like a severe knee injury and flyhalf Curwin Bosch to a hip problem five minutes before the break to take a handy 19-3 first half lead.
One senses that the state of Kolisi’s knee will become a national obsession in the coming days and weeks with the World Cup only five months away. He jarred it awkwardly in a charge down the touchline and his subsequent body language told a story of someone who knew it might be bad.
Despite these setbacks the Sharks relied on their dominant set piece to grind Munster down. Scrum penalties, where poor Stephen Archer suffered against Ox Nche, were the source of good primary ball. From subsequent lineouts Munster couldn’t really cope with the home team’s maul.
Hooker Bongi Mbonambi scored the first from a maul in the sixth minute. Wing Werner Kok also scored after Kolisi replacement Pepsi Buthulezi quickly broke from a lineout maul, which was a result of another scrum penalty. Kok might have made a double movement but the officials said not, and the try stood.
And just before the break flank Sikhumbuzo Notshe crashed over after Mbonambi was stopped short as he broke away from a lineout maul that, you guessed it, started from a scrum penalty.
Tries: Bongi Mbonambi, Werner Kok, Sikhumbuzo Notshe. Conversions: Curwin Bosch, Boeta Chamberlain. Penalty: Chamberlain
– Tries: Penalty try, Calvin Nash, Conor Murray. Conversions: Ben Healy (2). Penalty: Jack Crowley.
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