Munster boss takes heart from recent win over Stormers: 'We broke them down, but they'll be better'

Munster coach Graham Rowntree expects a response from the Stormers when the two teams contest the URC Grand Final in Cape Town next Saturday.

Munster upset the Stormers 26-24 in Cape Town on 15 April - a result that saw the Cape side lose at home for the first time since December 2021.

Since then, Munster have been on a roll.

They fought back from 22-3 down to draw 22-22 with the Sharks in Durban; floored Glasgow Warriors 14-5 away in the quarter-finals; before last weekend's massive 16-15 upset of Leinster in the semi-finals in Dublin.

Rowntree described the win against Leinster as an emotional one but said they didn't want it to end there.

"This can't be our final," Rowntree said, as quoted by the Independent.ie website.

Rowntree warned his charges that the Stormers will be out for revenge but said they'll take heart from their win in Cape Town a month ago.

"Looking at how we broke them (the Stormers) down and dealt with their power game [will help], but they'll be better than that night.

"They'll be battle-hardened themselves, so it will be a real challenge for us," the coach said.

READ | An obvious yet understated factor in Stormers' success: No recent signing has been a failure

Munster will be looking to break a 12-year trophy drought.

"We back the work we've done, we back our fitness. That will be our sixth away game on the bounce, it's unprecedented, and we'll enjoy it. There's loads to improve on in our game.

"We'll look at our game, strip our game apart this week, have a good review and keep going at our game. After the Glasgow victory it was very much still looking at our game, growing our game, just looking at what we can do, as boring as that sounds," Rowntree added.

The URC final is scheduled for Cape Town Stadium on