Graham Rowntree, the head coach of Munster, conceded that the Sharks, which included numerous Springboks players, were simply too strong for his team in Durban. However, he appreciated the fight his team put up till the last and their achievement of securing a bonus point at the last moment. Following two arduous encounters with Stormers and the Sharks, they only had one point to bring home to Ireland. This was a drastic contrast to the previous year when they secured 10 points on their South African trip.
Rowntree stated, “We don’t face the Springboks world champions’ tight five every week. We anticipated a tough time and stuck to our strategy. Ultimately, the Sharks were too powerful for us.”
He further added, ” We battled to get a bonus point. Several young men on the field made significant contributions. We usually persist, but there were instances when we were simply overpowered. They are a formidable team and got us quickly. We tried to bounce back. Tadhg Beirne got us to the try line while Tom Farrell nearly set Craig [Casey] up for a score. We had our chances, but the Sharks capitalised on theirs more effectively. They simply had more power.”
Rowntree was aware of the importance of gaining an early advantage to avoid a third consecutive league defeat—a first in nine years. However, the Sharks were ahead in the first minute owing to a score by Aphelele Fassi, their fullback, who was aided by scrumhalf Grant Williams. By the fifth minute, the score was 14-0 after Makazole Mapimpi evaded Calvin Nash and scored, with Jordan Hendrikse guaranteeing Munster were on the defensive from the beginning.
While lineout issues which characterised their losses to the Stormers and Leinster were not present in this game, Munster struggled in loose encounters and inhibiting the Sharks’ fast, power-infused attacks. However, they were able to slow down the momentum towards the end of the first quarter, with Rory Scannell capitalising on a fortunate bouncing ball from Jack Crowley’s clear kick and setting up Tom Ahern for a score.
Williams sprinted in for a try, promptly followed by a conversion kick from Hendrikse who previously had also successfully kicked a penalty. This resulted in their team taking a 24-5 lead within 24 minutes. Not long after, Munster finally made progress and secured some momentum, leading to Mike Haley capitalising with a try at the half-hour mark. However, the Sharks had the last laugh before half-time, as Andre Esterhuizen bulldozed his way through both Crowley and Rory Scannell to score, setting the half-time score at 31-10 in favour of the Sharks.
Post interval, Hendrikse was the sole scorer in the third quarter with a penalty, and their dominance was further demonstrated when Billy Burns, replacing Crowley in the outhalf position, was thwarted by the impressive Victor Tshituka – who scored to elevate the Sharks’ lead to 41-10.
Despite the bleak outlook, last-minute efforts saw Munster pick up momentum, with Nash scoring via a crosskick from Burns that was initiated by replacement scrumhalf Ethan Coughlan’s deep intercept. In a proud moment, Ronan Foxe, a player with Westmeath origins, was debuted in the front row, before Tadhg Beirne, their captain, heroically battled through for a last-minute bonus point, after making five bold attempts at the line.
The game ended at 41-24 in favour of the Sharks. The scorers for Sharks were as follows: tries – A Fassi, M Mapimpi, G Williams, A Esterhuizen, and V Tshituka; conversions – Jordan Hendrikse (x5); penalties – Hendrikse (x2).
In the clash between Munster and the Sharks, the former saw tries from players such as T Ahern, M Haley, C Nash, and T Beirne, with B Burns converting the goals twice. The squad for the Sharks included A Fassi, E Keyter, L Am, A Esterhuizen, and M Mapimpi, helmed by Jordan Hendrikse and G Williams. The team also had O Nche, B Mbonambi, V Koch, E Etzebeth as captain, and E van Heerden, J Venter, V Tshituka, and S Kolisi. Esterhuizen was replaced by F Venter and Williams by Jaden Hendrikse, among other substitutions that took place at different intervals.
On the other side, M Haley, C Nash, T Farrell, R Scannell, and S O’Brien represented Munster. The team was conducted by J Crowley and C Casey, along with J Ryan, N Scannell, S Archer, J Kleyn, T Beirne as the captain, T Ahern, J Hodnett, and J O’Donoghue. In a game of switching players, Ahern was replaced by R Quinn and N Scannell by D Barron, along with other replacements including B Burns switching with R Scannell and K Ryan coming in for Archer. Judging the game on the field was referee Hollie Davison from Scotland.