Ken Borland

When Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen said after the game that Munster had been “able to prevent us from playing”, it was said with grudging respect more than churlishness, and few could argue that the defending champions were not deserving winners at Ellis Park even if the 33-13 scoreline maybe did not fully indicate how competitive the home side were.

The brilliance of the Munster performance was that the more the Lions roared, huffed and puffed, the more resolute and clinical Graham Rowntree’s side became. The coach said afterwards that the sheer power his players had shown had been why the Lions were stifled, the key to victory in a match in which Munster only had 36% of possession and 31% of territory.

“I was very pleased with our power game, especially the way we stopped their maul and used ours. It was a very good defensive display and we managed to get our power game going, which is something we have drilled a lot,” Rowntree said.

“It’s been very special that we’ve shown power on both sides of the ball against two big South African teams now and I’m delighted that we’ve come away from this trip with 10 points.

“We had a plan and we stuck to it, except for a few moments where we strayed off and were a bit loose and our discipline let us down. But we have some tremendous leaders, guys who are real warriors in the big moments, and we are always moving on from our mistakes.

“There are still elements of our game we need to think about, to not score more tries is maybe a bit frustrating, but the fundamentals are always there. Last year told us that we have composure when we are in the fire,” Rowntree said.

Given their ability to win away from home and the fact that they seem to play better the stronger the pressure, Munster certainly look capable of defending their United Rugby Championship title. But Rowntree is blacklisting any talk that is focused too far ahead.

“We have momentum but we still have to take it game-by-game. Winning both games on the highveld gives us a lot of confidence and we do have some guys coming back from injury. It’s pretty much knockout rugby from now till the end of the competition,” Rowntree said.

Van Rooyen praised Munster for their management of the game.

“You could feel them dictating the tempo of the match, and then they got ahead and managed to squeeze us. Once we got going, we looked dangerous, but that’s all part of the squeeze, they didn’t allow us to counter.

“We’ve got to try and generate pace in our play, but they kept kicking the ball out, they made us battle at the breakdown and they spoilt our momentum in the lineouts as well. Munster didn’t do anything we didn’t expect, but they just executed so well and they make everything slow. We have been outsmarted,” Van Rooyen said.

There was probably no more deserving winner of the South African Open at Glendower Golf Club yesterday than Englishman Andy Sullivan, who claimed his maiden European Tour title in a thrilling playoff with Charl Schwartzel.

Sullivan was a cheerful, chirpy presence throughout the tournament, even on a bad third day when he tumbled down the leaderboard, but he also played the most consistent golf over the four days, finishing on 11-under–par after rounds of 66, 70, 74 and 67.

Schwartzel’s implosion in the closing holes, wasting a four-shot lead with a bogey on the par-three 14^th after finding the greenside bunker; a double-bogey on 16 after driving into a bunker, flying the green and then three-putting; and then a bogey on the par-three 17^th after an awful tee-shot, meant the SA Open had its first playoff since Scotsman Richie Ramsay won at Pearl Valley in 2009.

Schwartzel had been ropey all day off the tee and with his irons, but had scrambled well as he putted superbly from distance. He produced another poor drive in the playoff, going way right of the fairway. Sullivan was left of the fairway, but not as far away, although the Englishman said afterwards that he felt he had a tougher approach shot than the South African.

Sullivan was in cloying grass, with the low branches of a tree obstructing his way to the green, but the jovial 28-year-old was able to make something of a bad situation with a tremendous shot worthy of an SA Open winner.

“I only had 131 metres to the pin, but I had low branches in front of me so I had to hit a nine-iron to keep under those. I was aiming at the grandstand and trying to cut it back, and I hit it perfectly. I thought I’d still be 20 feet from the flag, but instead I was 12 feet and pin-high, it’s without a doubt one of the best shots I’ve ever hit,” Sullivan said.

He still had to make an awkward, curling putt as Schwartzel played a superb third shot to within a couple of feet of the hole, but Sullivan showed his mettle by ramming the winning putt home.

“I’ve never been that nervous over a putt before, I was literally shaking. You never know in golf, but the unbelievable happened and I’m going to really enjoy it and milk it for everything,” the likeable lad from the English midlands town of Nuneaton said.

Sullivan started the day eight shots behind Schwartzel and knew he had to go low. But he only had two birdies and a bogey in his cart by the turn, before chipping in for eagle on the short par-four 12^th. Another birdie on the 16^th lifted him into second and he admitted that he was about to leave the course to head off to the airport for his flight to Dubai when the world number 31 began unravelling.

Schwartzel was brought to his knees by the double-bogey on 16 and was fortunate to only drop one shot at the next hole as his first putt from 60 feet finished less than a metre from the hole, and he was able to regroup enough to par the last hole, despite having to two-putt from 80 feet.

His first putt was another gem, leaving him with just a tiddler for par and a place in the playoff.

Young Matthew Fitzpatrick, who was in the final group with Schwartzel, was out of contention after finding the bog on the 13^th. A triple-bogey eight was the result, but England’s St George’s Cross was still flying high over Glendower thanks to Sullivan.