The DHL Stormers had to work hard to beat Munster Rugby 34-19 in Cape Town on Saturday. The DHL Stormers' win was their first against Munster in a URC match.
Munster started to build pressure on the defence of their host from the kick-off and was slowly entering the Stormers' twenty-two when Suleiman Hartzenberg intercepted a ball inside the Stormers' twenty-two, and ran eighty meters plus to score the Stormer's first try.
Minutes later a mistake made by the Sormers and poor rucking allowed Munster's Tom Farrell to pick up the ball behind a ruck and "strolled" over the Stormers' tryline to level the scores after seventeen minutes of play.
Munster continued to dominate and scored their second try when hooker Eoghan Clarke scored off the back of a five-meter lineout-maul to lead for the first time of the match with 12-07 after twenty-seven minutes of play in the first half.
Six minutes later Marcel Theunissen took a quick tap, five meters from Munster's tryline and scored the Stormers' second try of the match to retake the lead 14-12, which was also the score at the halftime break.
The Stormers started like a house on fire and Ruhan Nel scored in the corner following brilliant hands and passing by the backline that created space for Nel. Nel's try extended the Stormers' lead to 21-12 with thirty-four minutes still to play in the second half.
Munster struck back ten minutes later with a try by Gavin Coombes. Munster launched wave after wave of attacks following a lineout ten meters from the Stormers' tryline until Coombes crashed over for Munster's third try.
A first penalty conversion by Damian Willemse extended the Stormers' lead to 24-19 with five minutes still to play in the second half.
However, the Stormers were not done yet. Following a Damian Willemse drop goal Ruan Nel intercepted a ball just inside the half of Munster to run forty meters to score the Stormers' bonus point try and secure a historic first 34-19 win against Munster in the URC.
Scorers:
DHL Stormers: Tries: Suleiman Hartzenberg, Marcel Theunissen, Ruhan Nel (2). Conversions: Damian Willemse (4). Penalty: Damian Willemse.
Munster: Tries: Tom Farrell, Eoghan Clarke Gavin Coombes. Conversions: Jack Crowley (2).
Teams:
DHL Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis (c), 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Sti Sithole. Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Ruben van Heerden, 20 Dave Ewers, 21 Louw Nel, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Jurie Matthee.
Munster Rugby: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Seán O’Brien, 11 Shane Daly, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jack O’Donoghue, 7 Alex Kendellen, 6 Tom Ahern, 5 Tadhg Beirne (c), 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 John Ryan, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Jeremy Loughman. Replacements: 16 Eoghan Clarke, 17 Kieran Ryan, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Fineen Wycherley, 20 Ruadhán Quinn, 21 Ethan Coughlan, 22 Billy Burns, 23 Gavin Coombes.