THEY needed a victory but Munster had to dig deep tonight in Thomond Park to get the better of the Stormers. It was a deserved but narrow win which gives them added confidence for the visit to Leinster next weekend. It wasn’t a faultless performance but in difficult conditions the home side deserved to be on the right side of the result.
The first half was not pretty to watch with a rake of errors, spills and spoils of possible scoring chances.
The Stormers lost their number five Gary Porter, replaced by Andre Smyth, early in the game and they held their own as the home side, with the benefit of the wind, dominated possession.
After 12 minutes we got the opening score of the game, Jack Crowley putting a perfect kick deep into the South Africans territory. The lineout was cleanly taken, Munster were awarded a penalty and Crowley was accurate with the kick.
Five minutes later the Stormers got a great chance to level it but Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu sliced the ball wide of the post.
The visitors had another golden chance of a score when they broke from halfway. Left wing Leolin Zas chased a clever kick through but the ball bounced backwards and the opportunity was lost.
Munster upped their game in the final ten minutes of that opening half and they were rewarded. Camped five metres from the Stormers line they were awarded three penalties in succession and in the final surge second row Edwin Edogbo barged over with Crowley’s conversion sending the home side in with a 10-3 lead.
Aided by the wind after the restart, the Stormers brought play within scoring distance and on 46 minutes Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicked a penalty after strong pressure.
The home pack had to stand up to a series of mauls but they conceded a penalty which Feinberg-Mngomezulu popped over to make it 10-3.
Munster had to show all of their defensive skills as the visitors came looking for revenge for their defeat in May. They did their chances little good when they kicked a penalty from a distance dead at the other end of the field.
The final minutes saw the home side empty their bench and that extra energy was evident. The Stormers had given their all but those two missed chances in the opening half proved crucial.
Facing into the Leinster game there will be plenty to muse on for the Munster mentors.
Scorers for Munster
Try: Edwin Edogbo
Penalty: Jack Crowley
Con: Crowley
Scorers for Stormers
Penalty: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Munster: Shane Daly; Calvin Nash, Antoine Frisch, Alex Nankivell, Shay McCarthy; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey (Conor Murray, 59); Jeremy Loughman (Josh Wycherley, 48), Scott Buckley, John Ryan (Stephen Archer, 48); Edwin Edogbo (Tom Ahern, 53), Tadhg Beirne; Peter O’Mahony (Jack O’Donoghue, 41), John Hodnett (Alex Kendellen, 68), Gavin Coombes.
Stormers: Warrick Gelant, Ben Loader, Ruhan Nel, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Leolin Zas, Jean-Luc du Plessis, Paul de Wet, Sti Sithole, Joseph Dweba, Neethling Fouche (c), Ruben van Heerden, Gary Porter, Willie Engelbrecht, Ben-Jason Dixon, Evan Roos
Replacements: Andre-Hugo Venter, Ali Vermaak, Brok Harris, Adre Smith, Keke Morabe, Herschel Jantjies, Clayton Blommetjies, Angelo Davids.
Ref: Sam Grove-White (SRU)
Written by Aidan Corr and posted on the42.ie
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