Munster v Stormers: This could be the beginning of a beautiful rivalry

Rivers of water have passed under the bridge since Munster and the Stormers first met in a URC clash in early October 2021. It was the dawn of a brave if uncertain new era, in front of a curious 10,723 crowd who were witnessing this South African franchise in the flesh for the first time a week after Munster had beaten the Sharks in the same ground.

The visitors duly stormed into an early 15-0 lead, but Munster’s pack power, with five tries by forwards, sealed a 34-18 win. The biggest roar of the night greeted RG Snyman’s first and thus far only try for the province when breaking off Munster’s potent lineout maul and finishing with a slam-dunk touchdown.

Munster, helped by playing three of their first four at home, started off with four victories. The Stormers, beginning with a four-game trek to four countries in Europe, won only one of their first five.

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Munster would lose seven of their subsequent 14 to finish sixth, a limp 36-17 quarter-final defeat away to Ulster ending their season. Meanwhile, the Stormers lost only one of their remaining 13 games to finish second before home wins over Ulster and the Bulls secured the title.

Last season, the early schedules were contrasting and so were the results. Munster won just two of their first seven - beating Zebre at home when failing to add to their three first-half tries - while the Stormers lost just one of their first eight.

Yet Munster lost only two of their ensuing 11 URC games and come the end of the season they started storming fortresses for fun. They ended the Stormers’ run of 20 home wins in succession to keep their season alive in their penultimate match, in front of 15,000 or so in the DHL Stadium, and drew with a Sharks side which had put 50 points on them three weeks previously in the Champions Cup last 16.

Cue the knockout stages as Munster then inflicted Glasgow with their first defeat of the season at Scotstoun and ended Leinster’s run of 25 wins in succession in front of crowds at the Aviva, before beating the Stormers again to seal their first trophy in a dozen seasons.

You could hardly make it up.

That final last May was witnessed by a crowd of 56,334, the biggest attendance for any game in the history of the various iterations of the Celtic League/Magners League/Pro 12/Pro14/URC.

Between then and tonight’s rematch in Thomond Park, there’s been the small matter of the World Cup, during which Ireland’s win over the Springboks counts for much less joy now than it did at the time given South Africa were ultimately crowned champions again.

“Psychologically, it’s going to be difficult to deal with,” Alan Quinlan told The Irish Times this week with regard to the prevailing post-World Cup hangover hereabouts. “This Irish team, with all due respect to all the other World Cups, was probably our best-ever chance given the quality of the team and the position we were in. It was genuine. In 2019 the world number one tag was a bit false and we all know that.”

Quinlan also believes the mental challenge will be harder for the more experienced Irish players than the younger ones after they expended so much to achieve their optimum condition, and for the ultimate goal, as well as those with the bigger game involvements.

Recalling his own experience after the anti-climactic 2007 World Cup campaign, he added: “For me, because I hadn’t played, I was mad to play when I came home, and those players who didn’t have many minutes will be chomping to get back.”

That said, Quinlan muses that Johnny Sexton’s longevity may give others hope that they can play until they’re 37 or 38, although he also ventures: “It’s hard to feel like any success now will make up for that disappointment, and the Leinster players have had two hammer blows, but that’s sport. The unfortunate part of the World Cup is that you have to wait four years for the next one.”

[ ‘It ranks right up there’ - Denis Leamy values Munster’s URC title alongside European triumphs ]

There’s also one other factor which, while blatantly obvious, is often lost in the wash.

“When you peel it back and the reality of who should be winning World Cups, we probably shouldn’t be in the conversation, in the same way as Wales and Scotland, because of player numbers,” says Quinlan.

“New Zealand, South Africa, France, England and Australia should be the main ones, perhaps less so Australia now, because they’ve had struggles in recent times. Johnny Sexton was quoted as saying ‘I didn’t grow up dreaming of winning World Cups because it was never a realistic goal for Irish teams’. The same for me, I didn’t think Ireland could ever win a World Cup.”

That it became a realistic goal more than ever only compounds the sense of anti-climax. Yet the Irish-South African rivalry has never been so familiar and acute. Ireland’s two Test series in South Africa next summer will have added intrigue.

In the interim, if any fixture can both embody the vibrancy of the United Rugby Championship and provide an antidote to the post-World Cup hangover, it is assuredly tonight’s reprise of last May’s final between the two URC champions to date.

“There’s a little bit of a rivalry there now,” says Quinlan, “and that’s what makes the competition great. These little mini rivalries are starting to build up now between South African and Irish teams. Leinster were the team to beat until the Bulls shocked them in the semi-finals two seasons ago.”

Quinlan is one of the few men to have been at all three meetings between the Stormers and Munster. “I remember doing the commentary on that game in Thomond Park two years ago. I didn’t really know what to expect from the South African teams, but I remember going, ‘Wow! Their attack game, the pace they played at, their skill set,’ and I thought that was the way to play the game.

“I didn’t give Munster much hope going there last year, needing five points to make the play-offs and Europe. But they did, and they were incredibly brave.”

By the time Munster reached the final - just five weeks after being eviscerated by the Sharks - they were, in Quinlan’s view, in bonus territory. “They had to negotiate the hardest possible way of winning the competition, and they did it.

“I must say, one of my best ever memories was being there with my son [AJ] and my mum [Mary], and seeing what it meant to all the Munster fans after so many disappointments in a 12-year period. I met fans who had travelled from Australia, America, the UK and Ireland. I was privileged and lucky to be there.”

[ Double injury blow for Munster with RG Snyman and Joey Carbery out for months ]

As a survivor of the 2006 and 2008 Heineken Cup wins, like Denis Leamy, Quinlan rates it on a par with those epic successes.

“I would because of the way they did it. I would put it right up there. It was a really special win, to beat a Stormers side like that in Cape Town. It was all set up for the Stormers to retain the trophy. It felt like a really joyous moment, and I love that they did it the hard way. To end up being champions after their start to the season was ridiculous really, and it really lifted the whole province.”

Quinlan hails Graham Rowntree.

“He’d united the province again whether they won a trophy or not. They were also a good side to watch, and they weren’t under the previous regime.”

Yet their former flanker speaks from experience when adding: “It’s probably a learning curve for them now, but it gets harder. That’s the acid test. When you get to that level, can you maintain it? Can you build on your success and find ways of getting better?”

Jean Kleyn, one of Munster’s newly crowned World Cup winners, credits Rowntree, Leamy and Mike Prendergast for making him a better player, and believes the impact of the South African franchises joining the URC has been mutually beneficial.

“It was a massive win for both sides, getting the Southern Hemisphere involved in Northern Hemisphere rugby,” said Kleyn in the aftermath of the Springboks’ 12-11 win over the All Blacks in the World Cup final in the Strade de France. “You can see the progress on the Irish side. You can see the progress on the South African side. I think it’s been nothing but positive.

“Even Scotland were very competitive [at the World Cup], and Wales were very competitive. You can name all the countries in the URC,” Kleyn adds, albeit Italy hardly turned up at Le Mondial. “They say a rising tide lifts all boats and the URC is that right now. It’s an incredible competition.”

Yet while Munster have options aplenty in the back five of the pack, Quinlan is concerned about the lack of depth in the front-row and back three. Similarly, though, his one-time Munster team-mate, former Stormers and Springboks centre Jean de Villiers, is equally concerned about the continuing flight of players to richer pastures.

In addition to the World Cup-winning duo of prop Steven Kitshoff (to Ulster) and lock Marvin Orie (Perpignan), fellow lock Ernst van Rhyn is tearing it up with Sale Sharks. In De Villiers’ view, this has “neutralised the strengths of the Stormers in the scrum and lineout”.

He adds: “The experience that they’re lacking with their Boks not being back yet makes it difficult for them to get victories away from home.”

This has been compounded by the injury to another lock, and their captain, Salmaan Moerat. “They’re lacking a little bit from a leadership point of view, so that will take time as well. I do think that the third year was always going to be a difficult one for the Stormers after the successes of the first two years.

“The Bulls have started better and maybe the games just suited them, but they will want to stake a claim for being the top South African team, and currently you’re probably looking at those two teams. But the Sharks remains a big red flag for us in terms of their start to the season, and hopefully they can get that back on track.”

But overall, Munster’s triumph was probably good for the tournament’s initial growth, and it will fuel desire in South Africa to reclaim the URC.

“They love it,” says Quinlan. “Obviously at times the travel is difficult for them, and we saw some issues around players travelling economy, and taking multiple flights. That stuff is really difficult for players.

“But the time difference is virtually the same and they’ve bought into it, and brought so much quality to this competition. From an Irish point of view that can only be good, meeting that challenge, and it’s only going to enhance it.”

Pause for a moment too and contemplate another Pro12 without the South Africans this season. Such are the drastic cuts in the budgets of the Welsh regions, for example, that their most fancied side, Cardiff, are 100/1 in the outright betting with Paddy Power, followed by the Ospreys at 150/1, the Scarlets at 175/1 and the Dragons at 500/1.

Logistical challenges remain, but the URC is generating new rivalries, with Munster-Stormers - labelled “the grudge match” by some in South Africa - being the clearest case in point.

The competition’s value feels especially heightened this weekend.