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What a nail-biter of a match! Right down to the final few seconds, The DHL stadium overflowed with passion and pride from both sides – even the autumn sun came out to back the boytjies.

A huge well done to the Stormers who produced a magnificent performance, dominating the second half until Munster’s try in the last five minutes ultimately claimed them victory at the Vodacom United Rugby Championship final in Cape Town.

What a nail-biter of a match! A huge well done to the Stormers who produced a magnificent performance, dominating the second half when Munster’s late try ultimately claimed them the Vodacom United Rugby Championship title:
https://www.capetownetc.com/featured/a-late-try-sees-munster-taking-home-the-vodacom-urc-title/

Also read: Munster fans thrilled with prospect of catching final and Cape Town sights

Ending a 12-year drought, loose forward John Hodnett wrote himself into Munster folklore by scoring the winning try in the 74th minute to earn the visitors a 19-14 victory in front of more than 56,000 spectators at DHL Stadium.

It was Munster’s first major title since the 2010-2011 season, built on a masterful kicking game in the first half and dogged defending in the second.

The Stormers had their opportunities, especially in the second half when they appeared to have Munster on the ropes, but the defending champions could not land the all-important knockout blow and it came back to bite them.

The first half was a war of attrition, with Munster working out a seemingly perfect formula to create opportunity after opportunity, while the Stormers had to live on scraps.

This came after the hosts had made a bright start, knocking the visitors backwards and forcing them into risky plays through excellent defence. That led to the opening try, where Manie Libbok intercepted and ran 60 metres to score off a Munster offload.

However, from there it was one-way traffic as Munster pressured the Stormers through excellent kicking from veteran scrumhalf Conor Murray, while also relentlessly bashing holes into the blue wall.

The pressure on the Stormers went up a notch when Evan Roos was sent to the sin bin for cynical play. During this 10-minute period, Munster wasted three clear-cut scoring opportunities, before Crowley set up Nash with a brilliant cross-field kick that gave the away side a 12-7 lead at the break.

The Stormers came out of the half-time team talk fired up and were given an early boost in the second half when Munster fullback Mike Haley was yellow-carded for a cynical tackle.

The record crowd roared with delight when a powerful maul put Deon Fourie over for a try, with Libbok landing the conversion to give the Stormers the lead.

That seemed to give the Stormers the boost they needed, but when push came to shove, they lacked the accuracy to make the most of their momentum.

Instead, it was Munster, who with one of their few chances in the second half, made it count, when Hodnett crossed from an overlap for the title-winning score.

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Also read:

URC Grand Final: What to do after the final whistle

Picture: @THESTORMERS / Twitter

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