Defensive excellence key as Munster record another win over Stormers
DEFENSIVE STEEL: DHL Stormers' Evan Roos is held up over the line by Jack Crowley and Gavin Coombes of Munster. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady
Munster got back to winning ways with a narrow victory over the Stormers in this URC Grand Final rematch in Limerick on Saturday night.
The hard-fought win came eight days after a first defeat of the season at Ulster that had seen the 2022-23 champions lose the set-piece and breakdown battles in a lacklustre performance for long periods in Belfast.
This was a return to normal service in that regard against the inaugural URC title winners and last season’s beaten finalists.
A tight contest in sometimes terrible conditions at Thomond Park underlined a growing rivalry between these sides that had seen Munster edge last season’s finale on the Stormers' home turf in South Africa.
And while this victory for Graham Rowntree’s men made it four wins from four since the Capetonians joined the URC in 2022, this was another evenly matched contest separated only by a converted Edwin Edogbo try just before half-time and excellent defensive work to twice hold up Stormers No.8 Evan Roos over the line, Gavin Coombes involved in both last-ditch efforts.
Munster welcomed back Ireland World Cup players Tadhg Beirne, Conor Murray and skipper Peter O’Mahony for their seasonal debuts, the Stormers having been their last opponents when the captain and the now-retired Keith Earls hoisted the URC trophy aloft in Cape Town on May 27.
It was also a night in which Stephen Archer became Munster’s record-equalling appearance maker, the veteran tighthead prop coming off the bench to earn his 269th cap for his province to match Donnacha O’Callaghan’s milestone in front of a hardy Thomond Park crowd of 15,044, baring the elements to see their side home for a third victory of the season.
On a night of squalling rain and wind, Munster had made marginally the best of the desperate conditions in an error-strewn first half. A Jack Crowley penalty had opened the lead on 14 minutes but it was not until the end of the first period that they made a decisive move.
It stemmed from Stormers’ indiscipline, a deliberate knock-on from centre Ruhan Nel on halfway, which Crowley kicked to the corner.
Three successive maul penalties from there saw Stormers captain Neethling Fouche sin-binned by referee Sam Grove-White on 38 minutes and Munster made the one-man advantage pay instantly, sustained pressure on the visitors’ line bearing fruit when academy lock Edwin Edogbo powered over on the stroke of half-time.
Crowley’s successful conversion made it 10-0 to Munster and brought the opening half to a close.
Munster replaced O’Mahony at the interval with Jack O’Donoghue and though they still had another eight minutes with their rivals short-handed as the second half got underway it was the Stormers who scored through a Sasha Feinberg-Mngomezulu penalty on 45 minutes, after Edogbo had been caught offside at a ruck.
Munster very nearly made amends as they laid siege to the Stormers' line only for the South Africans’ flanker Willie Engelbrecht to come up with a vital turnover under the posts to win a pressure-relieving penalty for his side.
The home side had to do some defending themselves with the sides back to numerical parity as the Stormers turned the screw at scrum time, Jack Crowley, assisted by Gavin Coombes denying the 2022 champions a try as when they held up Evan Roos’s dive over the line.
The resulting scrum only brought more pressure but once again it was Coombes to the rescue, the Munster No.8 effecting another try-saving tackle on his opposite number Roos to hold up the South African.
This time it proved to relieve the siege, and while Munster were unable to stretch their lead in an extremely tight contest they did manage to see out the game largely in opposition territory to record a fourth straight win over their rivals.
S Daly; C Nash, A Frisch, A Nankivell, S McCarthy; J Crowley, C Casey (C Murray, 60); J Loughman (J Wycherley, 47), S Buckley, J Ryan (S Archer, 47); E Edogbo (T Ahern, 53), T Beirne; P O’Mahony – captain (J O’Donoghue, h-t), J Hodnett (A Kendellen, 68), G Coombes.
C Moore, R Scannell
W Gelant; B Loader (C Blommetjies, 68), R Nel, S Feinberg-Mngomezulu, L Zas; J-L du Plessis (A Davids, 65), P de Wet (H Jantjies, 59); S Sithole (A Vermaak, 59), J Dweba (A-H Venter, 53), N Fouche – captain (B Harris, 60); R van Heerden, G Porter (A Smith, 6); W Engelbrecht (B Harris, 42-48 – YC sub; K Morabe, 53), B-J Dixon, E Roos.
N Fouche 38-48
Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
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