'You don't win in Cape Town unless it hurts'
REACTION: Munster returns to Cape Town just a month after they ended the Stormers’ 21-match unbeaten home run.
The Limerick-based Red Army booked their place in the 2023 United Rugby Championship Final with a 16-15 come-from-behind win over Leinster in Dublin at the weekend.
They have a bye week to recover ahead of next week’s trip – their third trek to South Africa in eight weeks.
Dublin was Munster’s fifth away game in succession, three of them in South Africa.
However, Munster coach Graham Rowntree believes they can keep the run going.
“We go to Cape Town with belief,” Rowntree said after they edged Leinster at the weekend with a Jack Crowley drop-goal in the 78th minute.
Munster achieved the unlikely win despite the absence of players like World Cup-winning Springbok lock Rudolph Snyman, New Zealand centre Malakai Fekitoa and Ireland scrumhalf Conor Murray.
All three were instrumental in the win over the Stormers last month.
They missed the past weekend’s semifinal as a result of concussion protocols and should be ready to travel.
The determination to win their sixth-successive away game is encapsulated in a social media post.
“You don’t win in places like Cape Town unless it hurts,” a post on their Instagram channel says.
The Munster coach, Rowntree, said the Stormers have a huge pack.
However, it is the Cape Town Stadium surface that again looks set to dominate the build-up.
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“[It is] not the best of surfaces in world rugby,” he said, when asked about the trip to Cape Town next week.
“We had our challenge with their scrum and their maul,” he said of Munster’s 26-24 triumph in Cape Town in Round 17 back in April.
Rowntree said the ‘pace’ at which the Stormers can play the game will also test the Munster resolve.
“They are a more complete package under [John] Dobson,” the Munster mentor said, adding: “I am a big fan of how he coaches and what they are doing.
“We will deal with that next week.”
Rowntree also looked to keep a lid on the celebrations in the wake of their win in the semifinal.
In addition to the performance in Dublin having some ‘flaws’, Rowntree said they will only be sated if they beat the Stormers in the Final.
“This group won’t give in and we have come through some fires in the last few weeks,” he said.
“We go to Cape Town and it will be our sixth away game on the bounce, and that’s when we are finding out about people.
“Our game is still growing.
“We are finding out about people.
“Peter [O’Mahony] spoke really well in the dressing room about this not being our Final,” he said of their semifinal win.
“I said to the group in the week that 25 days ago we were paranoid about European qualification, but then we got to a semifinal, and now we are in a Final.”
Munster won in Cape Town at the start of an incredible run of away results and Rowntree says they’ll take confidence from that victory as they return to South Africa for the third time in two months to try and end their 12-year wait for a trophy.
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“That was true emotion, but we don’t want it to end here.
“This can’t be our final,” Rowntree said.
“Looking at how we broke them [Stormers] down and dealt with their power game [will help], but they’ll be better than that match [in April].
“They’ll be battle-hardened themselves, so it will be a real challenge for us.
“But we’re in a final, we back the work we’ve done, we back our fitness.
“That will be our sixth away game on the bounce, it’s unprecedented, and we’ll enjoy it.
“There’s loads to improve on in our game.
“We’ll look at our game, strip our game apart this week, have a good review and keep going at our game.
“After the Glasgow victory, it was very much still looking at our game, growing our game, just looking at what we can do, as boring as that sounds.”
Sources: munsterrugby.ie, irishtimes.com & independent.ie
Fantastic composure from Jack Crowley to slot the match-winner 🙌pic.twitter.com/mOrz14DAqb#LEIvMUN #URC #SUAF 🔴
— Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) May 13, 2023
