And even though the bonus-point try only came in the last minute of play, the win means they move back up to third in the URC standings.

It wasn’t the Lions strongest performance of the season and error after error resulted in three successful penalties by Ireland national Jack Crowley, which put Munster 9 – 3 in front within the first half an hour.

The game’s first try was scored by Munster loose forward Jack O-Donoghue in the 33rd minute from a line-out maul.  Lions fly-half Jordan Hendrikse kicked over another penalty, but a penalty try awarded to Munster – after Simon Zebo was tackled without the ball – in the final play before half-time, put them squarely on the back foot going into the second half.  It also sent Marius Louw to the sin bin for the incident.

Munster was again the first team to score a try in the second half, courtesy of Shane Daly and a spectacular Gavin Coombes pass, but with 20-odd minutes to go the Lions managed to claw back a few points thanks to a try by replacement hooker PJ Botha. The final try was scored by Munster number 8, Coombes, in the dying seconds of the game. 

Coupled with the five match points from last weekend’s win over the Bulls in Pretoria, Munster returns home to Ireland with 10 points from their two-game trip to South Africa.

OFM Sport/Ilse Smalberger