Impressive Munster Rugby score precious bonus point URC win over Bulls in Pretoria

BATTLING Munster Rugby secured a precious 27-22 bonus point victory over the Vodacom Bulls in Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria on Saturday afternoon.

The victory, Munster's fifth on the bounce in the URC, boosts the title holders hopes of securing a home quarter-final in the knock-out stages of the competition.

The maximum five-point haul lifts Munster up above the Bulls into third place in the table, ahead of next Saturday's trip to Johannesburg to face the Emirates Lions.

Munster, who led 17-10 at half-time, scored four tries in all from Shane Daly, RG Snyman, John Hodnett and Conor Murray, while Jack Crowley added two conversions and a penalty.

The Bulls, despite fielding many of their international stars, had to be content with a losing bonus following tries by Elrigh Louw, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Johan Grobbelaar while Goosen added a penalty and two conversions.

The Bulls played the final 27 minutes of the game with 14 men after Johan Goosen was red-carded following a high tackle on Craig Casey.

Munster, who ended the Bulls seven-game winning home run in the URC, are unbeaten in their last eight matches against South African opponents.

The teams were separated by just one place and two points before kick-off and while Bulls dominated early possession they could make little headway against a well-organised Munster defence.

Munster went ahead on 19 minutes when brilliant handling from their backs - sparked by centre Alex Nankivell - created a try for winger Shane Daly. Out-half Crowley also duly converted.

The home side hit back quickly however, with Bulls responding via their forward power.

Louw attacked from the back of a scrum and after Munster initially held him up there was no stopping the skipper a second time.

Goosen converted and then kicked a penalty. However, resilient Munster were not to be denied a strong first-half finish as they regained the initiative when South African World Cup winner RG Snyman dotted down and Crowley converted before adding a penalty to ensure a 17-10 interval advantage for the visitors.

The Bulls took only five minutes of the second half to reduce their deficit, with Arendse crossing from close range.

Grobelaar then breached the Munster defence following a quickly-taken penalty, with Goosen's conversion helping the South African side rack up 12 unanswered points in just six minutes.

Goosen was, soon after, red-carded by Welsh referee Adam Jones following head-on-head contact with Munster's replacement scrum-half Craig Casey.

Munster immediately made their one-man advantage count, with Crowley's clever cross-kick finding John Hodnett who produced an excellent finish to touch down. The scores were now tied and Conor Murray's try six minutes from time secured a famous bonus-point victory for the URC holders.

VODACOM BULLS: Willie Le Roux, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie, David Kriel, Sebastien de Klerk, Johan Goosen, Embrose Papier, Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar, Wilco Louw, Ruan Vermaak, JF van Heerden, Cameron Hanekom, Reinhardt Ludwig, Elrigh Louw (Capt). Replacements: Akker van der Merwe, Simphiwe Matanzima, Mornay Smith, Janko Swanepoel, Mpilo Gumede, Zak Burger, Chris Smith, Devon Williams.

MUNSTER RUGBY: Simon Zebo, Calvin Nash, Antoine Frisch, Alex Nankivell, Shane Daly, Jack Crowley, Conor Murray, Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer, RG Snyman, Tadhg Beirne (Capt), Peter O’Mahony, Alex Kendellen, Jack O’Donoghue. Replacements: Eoghan Clarke, Josh Wycherley, Oli Jager, Tom Ahern, Gavin Coombes, Craig Casey, Joey Carbery, John Hodnett.

REFEREE: Adam Jones (Wales)