A frustrating evening for Munster sees The Sharks come away with a 15-3 victory in Thomond Park.
AS FIREWORKS lit up the Limerick City skyline on Halloween night, it was far from fireworks from Munster on the hallowed Thomond Park turf.
It was an error-filled evening by both Munster and The Sharks as neither team could get a firm control of proceedings in the URC clash.
Two moments of magic from The Sharks were the difference in an otherwise unmemorable 80 minutes of rugby.
The visitors opened the scoring as Zekhethelo Siyaya broke two tackles inside his own half and put a kick deep inside the Munster 22.
Scurrying defenders JJ Hanrahan and Ben O’Connor couldn’t gather the awkwardly bouncing ball before Gianni Lombard touched down for The Sharks.
Munster had plenty of opportunities in the first half to add to the scoreboard but lacked the killer instinct in the business end of the pitch.
Knock-ons within five-metres of The Sharks line and Fineen Wycherly being held up was the start of a frustrating evening for Munster.
Their first score came just before the break. Munster won a penalty 10-metres inside The Sharks half and Hanrahan made no mistake from the tee.
Coming out in the second half 5-3 to the better, Ox Nche became the centre of attention.
Kieran Brookes superbly won a penalty against the world-renowned scrummager under a period of pressure from The Sharks.
Just minutes later Nche got his revenge on the Munster loosehead prop, allowing Lombard to add three points to the scoreboard.
It wasn’t long later Nche was again being analysed by the referee as the South Africa international tackled Jeremy Loughman off the ball, making contact with his head.
After a bunker review, the incident was deemed a yellow card offence as contact started at the chest of Loughman and slid upwards.
Munster failed to make use of the 10-minute man-advantage. Their line-out would again be an Achilles heel for the Irish province.
Emile van Heerden stole the Munster line-out before pulling off a remarkable offload off the deck.
The offload found Nick Hatton, who burst into the Munster half only to be stopped by the covering Ben O’Connor on the Munster try line.
Ivan van Zyl was quickest to react at the resulting breakdown as he dove over from close range.
The errors continued for Munster as they failed to fight back after going 12 points behind.
Without Ireland internationals Tadhg Beirne and Craig Casey, it was a difficult task against the start-studded Sharks line-up.
Scorers:
Munster: Pens: Hanrahan.
The Sharks: Tries: Lombard, van Zyl. Pens: Lombard. Cons: Lombard.
Munster:
Josh Wycherly (Jeremy Loughman 48), Marnus van der Merwe (Lee Barron 60), Kieran Brookes (Michael Ala’Alatoa 57); Evan O’Connell (Edwin Edogbo 48), Fineen Wycherly; Sean Edogbo (Alex Kendellen 48), Jack O’Donoughue (C), Brian Gleeson (Gavin Coombes 48); Ben O’Donovan (Jake O’Riordan 54), JJ Hanrahan (Charlie O’Shea 63); Alex Nankivell, Gordon Wood; Rob Russell, Ben O’Connor, Shay McCarthy.
The Sharks:
Ox Nche (Cameron Dawson 66), Ethan Bester (Esethu Mnebelele 61), Hanro Jacobs (Thomas Du Toit 50); Jason Jenkins (Stephan Lewies 53), Emile van Heerden (Vincent Tshituka); Matt Romao, Manu Tshituka, Nick Hatton (C); Jaden Hendrikse (Emile van Zyl 58), Gianni Lombard; Ethan Hooker, Suleiman Hartzenberg; Jaco Williams, Zekhethelo Siyaya, Edwill van der Merwe.