Munster snapped the Stormers’ home winning streak at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday night when they powered to a bonus-point win in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
The teams were deadlocked 12-12 at the break, and Munster capitalised on Stormers errors to claim a 26-24 win. In doing so, they become the first team to win in Cape Town this season, as the Stormers tasted defeat on their home ground for the first time since December 2021.
It was a richly deserved victory for the Irish side, who showed a significant improvement on their last performance in South Africa, when they conceded 50 points to the Sharks in the Champions Cup playoffs.
The Stormers snatched two vital log points at the death when Ruhan Nel went over for his second try and the hosts’ fourth, keeping them hot on the heels of Ulster in the battle for second place with one round of league action remaining.
While the Stormers have become accustomed to fast starts, it was Munster who were on the scoresheet within the first couple of minutes, as the visitors powered over from a maul, having shocked the hosts with a massive early breakdown contest.
The defending champions seemed to struggle with Munster’s breakdown pressure throughout the match and were flustered in a key period in the first half where they had a penalty reversed, before Seabelo Senatla was yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle and then the tourists added a second try.
While the Stormers managed to get on level terms before the break, they crucially did not score in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, when they had Munster pinned in the 22.
Munster, meanwhile, took their opportunities when they came and went ahead when Shane Daley punished a defensive misread from Suleiman Hartzenberg. No 8 Gavin Coombes then muscled over from close range to leave the hosts with too much to do in the final 10 minutes, with Libbok missing three critical kicks at goal before Nel’s late try.
Straight from the training ground ?@MunsterRugby‘s Diarmuid Barron goes over the line after some pure power from the forward pack! ?@Vodacom #URC | #STOvMUN pic.twitter.com/siNehunFpf
— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) April 15, 2023
Advantage on top of advantage and eventually we break through as Ruhan Nel busts the door down.
⛈️ 12-12 ? (39 mins)#STOvMUN #iamastormer #dhldelivers @Vodacom #URC pic.twitter.com/sMHoCKETlQ
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) April 15, 2023
Photo: Carl Fourie/Gallo Images