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.

Munster coach Graham Rowntree hailed a top-class performance and a plan coming together as the defending champions moved into the top three of the United Rugby Championship standings with a tenacious 27-22 win over the Bulls in Pretoria.

The bonus point win saw Munster leapfrog the Bulls, deserved reward for beating the South African powerhouses at their home fortress of Loftus Versfeld, where they had previously not been beaten this season in the URC.

A beautifully-controlled first half saw Munster lead 17-10, but the Bulls mounted a strong comeback in the third quarter to take a 22-17 lead. But a red card for a head-on-head tackle by flyhalf Johan Goosen in the 54^th minute was a big turning point against the home side.

A pair of tries in the 58^th and 74^th minutes sealed a hard-fought win for Munster and the 53-year-old Rowntree was a delighted coach afterwards.

“The composure was special today, we had a good plan at altitude and stuck to it. We were in a good place at halftime but not so good in the third quarter. But we are used to these end-of-season pressure games, we have learnt to deal with adversity and move on quickly, and we had a great bench today.

“We had to stick to the plan with great skill, there was no panic. We had to kick very smartly, go away from the way we’ve been doing things for the last two years, when we have generally tried to keep the ball on the field.

“There are still elements of our game that need to be better, but this was an incredible performance against a team we really respect. They have power and pace and can really rip teams apart and we needed to be so much better at the start of the second half. But we believe in our defence, it’s one of the best in the league. It’s got to be against such a powerful team,” Rowntree said.

While Bulls coach Jake White said Goosen’s red card was a 50/50 decision that could have been deemed a ‘rugby incident’, Rowntree said it was an obvious call.

“I thought it was quite clear and easy. There was no mitigation and I was happy with the process. We make sure that we keep our tackles low, we practise that late drop into the tackle,” the former England prop said.

Wing Shane Daly, the scorer of the opening try, said Munster were a team with belief.

“We believe in ourselves, we play against the big teams and we get the results. That’s the big thing about this team,” Daly said.

Munster will next take on the Lions, who slayed top-of-the-log Leinster on the weekend, at Ellis Park.