Munster dominated the first half against the DHL Stormers in all aspects and led 12-07 at the end of the first half. DHL Stormers came back in the second half which was unfortunately not good enough as Munster showed class to score the winning try with three minutes to go to secure a well-deserved 19-14 win.
Manie Libbok intercepted a poor pass by Munster to open the scoring for the DHL Stormers. The DHL Stormers led 07-00 after just six minutes of play. However, Munster responded perfectly as Diarmuid Barron scored from the back of a 5m lineout-maul minutes later. The conversion of Munster was missed resulting in the hosts still leading 07-05 after eleven minutes of play.
A cynical offence by Evan Roos resulted in him being shown a yellow card which almost led to Munster's second try. Munster kept the pressure on the DHL Stormers with the hosts losing the aerial battle resulting in them being stuck inside their 22m for most of the first half. Munster had two tries disallowed during the first twenty-five minutes, however, a cross kick by Jack Crowley was brilliantly controlled by Calvin Nash who scored Munster's second try to deservedly lead 12-07 and ten minutes to go in the first half.
Munster mercilessly continued their onslaught on their hosts' tryline, however, the DHL Stormers got their hands on quality ball during the final five minutes of the first half and threatened Munster's tryline on several occasions without any success. The DHL Stormers were lucky to trail 07-12 at the halftime break.
The DHL Stormers started the second half attacking and were looking different from the beaten team of the first half. Deon Fourie scored from the back of a five-meter lineout-maul to take the DHL Stormers back into the lead with 14-12.
With twenty minutes of play left in the second half, the match has opened up resulting in a period of "helter skelter" attacks from both sides, with the DHL Stormers starting to slowly claw their way back into the match.
DHL Stormers "dominated" territorially for the next fifteen minutes, however, a mistake by Manie Libbok gave Munster the opportunity to attack which ended with flanker John Hodnett scoring in the corner. Munster led 19-14 with three minutes to play.
DHL Stormers attacked from the kickoff and were awarded a penalty following a yellow card infringement by Jack Crowley. Despite the DHL Stormers' best and desperate efforts, Munster kept the DHL Stormers from scoring to deservedly win 19-14.
Scorers:
DHL Stormers: Tries: Manie Libbok, Deon Viljoen. Conversions: Manie Libbok (2).
Munster: Tries: Diarmuid Barron, Calvin Nash, John Hodnett. Conversions: Jack Crowley. (2)
Teams:
DHL Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Steven Kitshoff (c). Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Clayton Blommetjies.
Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Antoine Frisch, 12 Malakai Fekitoa, 11 Shane Daly, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 John Hodnett, 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Diarmuid Barron, 1 Jeremy Loughman. Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Josh Wycherley, 18 Roman Salanoa, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Alex Kendellen, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Keith Earls.