It didn’t get much better once they’d crossed the King’s Park threshold and although the bonus point Beirne defiantly picked up at the death gives them a modicum of solace, by then the Sharks had taken their foot off the gas.
This was a chastening day on a difficult tour for Graham Rowntree who now has a game against an All Blacks XV and a few weekends off during the November internationals to find a way to turn this ship around.
“At the end of the day, they had too much power for us,” the coach said.
“We scrapped for a bonus point, some young men coming on and making big dents in the game. We tend to do that, but there were times where were overpowered.
“We go back to Ireland tomorrow, huge game for the club playing New Zealand in Thomond Park next week. We’ve a group going into Ireland camp, so we’ll dust ourselves down and move forward.
“It’s not every week we’re going to be playing against the world champion Springbok tight five. We knew we’d have our hands full (at the scrum), we stuck to the plan but there were occasions where we were overpowered.
“We’ll look at what we can do better.”
They’ve 12 points from six games and have coughed up a four-try bonus point in five of those. While there’s been flashes of good play, there have been periods where Munster have looked well off the level of the top teams in the URC and on this evidence the Springbok-laden Sharks deserve to be mentioned in that company.
This looked like a dangerous game from a way out, so going 14-0 down in the first five minutes didn’t help.
The Springboks looked tuned up ahead of the November internationals, with Bongi Mbonambi’s opening carry setting the tone. Grant Williams looked up from the ruck and saw no red jerseys in his peripheral vision, he didn’t need asking twice and scooted through, before finding Aphelele Fassi on his shoulder and the full-back scored.
Then, Eduan Keyter beat Jack Crowley to a Williams box-kick, the Sharks swung left where Calvin Nash slipped off Makazole Mapimpi as he scored in the corner.
Munster’s scrum was in all sorts of trouble and a crumpled set-piece leading to a Jordan Hendrikse penalty before Rory Scannell’s opportunism set Tom Ahern up for a try in the corner that gave the visitors a foothold.
It didn’t last, with Mapimpi fooling Beirne with a double-pump. Fassi collected his pass, chipped and the ball bounced kindly for Vincent Tshituke who found Williams who raced under the posts.
Mike Haley pulled a try back, but whatever hope Munster had was quashed before half-time, with Andre Esterhuizen exploiting soft defence on the back of a softer scrum.
Munster were in a hole and their desperation cost them chances before and after half-time, with Hendrikse nudging the Sharks further in front, before Alex Kendellen and Beirne were both held up over the line either side of James Venter receiving a yellow card.
He was about to come back on with the scores unchanged when Munster’s panic led to their own downfall, with Billy Burns charged down by the brilliant Tschituka and his try and Hendrikse’s fifth conversion made it 41-10 after they’d rushed a tap penalty deep in their own half.
Nash did pull a try back off the back of a superb Ethan Coughlan intercept and a lovely Burns cross-kick with six minutes to go, with Beirne forcing his way over from close range in injury time to give Munster a bonus point to take with them on the long trip home.
Scorers – Sharks: A Fassi, M Mapimpi, G Williams, A Esterhuizen, V Tshituka try each; Jordan Hendrikse 5 cons, 2 pens; Munster: T Ahern, M Haley, T Beirne, C Nash try each, B Burns 2 cons;
SHARKS: A Fassi; E Keyter, L Am, A Esterhuizen (F Venter 60), M Mapimpi; Jordan Hendrikse, G Williams (Jayden Hendrikse 60); O Nche (N Mchunu 63), B Mbonambi (F Mbatha 63), V Koch (R Dreyer 63); E Etzebeth (capt), E van Heerden (J Jenkins 51); J Venter, V Tshituka, S Kolisi.
MUNSTER: M Haley; C Nash, T Farrell, R Scannell (B Burns 62), S O’Brien; J Crowley, C Casey (E Coughlan 69); J Ryan (R Foxe 7, N Scannell (D Barron 51), S Archer (K Ryan 69) (J Ryan 79); J Kleyn (F Wycherley 51), T Beirne (capt); T Ahern (R Quinn 50), J Hodnett (A Kendellen 51), J O’Donoghue.
REF: H Davidson (Scotland).
