Alan Quinlan and Jean de Villiers On The Big Munster v DHL Stormers Re-Match

There will be a repeat of last season’s BKT URC Grand Final this weekend when champions Munster Rugby take on the DHL Stormers once again – but this time in Limerick rather than Cape Town.

Both teams go into the fixture on the back of defeats, with Munster having lost 21-14 to Ulster in Belfast last weekend, while the DHL Stormers have suffered successive setbacks away from home, going down 20-9 in Glasgow and then being beaten 20-17 by Benetton out in Treviso.

So who will come out on top in Saturday evening’s Round 5 re-match at Thomond Park – six months on from the Munstermen winning the Grand Final 19-14 at the Stormers’ DHL Stadium?

Who better to ask than former Munster and Ireland back row great Alan Quinlan and ex-Springboks captain Jean de Villiers, a man who played for both teams. They have been giving their thoughts ahead of the game at a BKT URC Media Round Table.

Alan Quinlan:

“It’s obviously a big game. Both sides are coming off losses and that kind of stirs the emotion in the build-up during the week. Munster are under a fair bit of pressure, while the Stormers will want to get back into winning ways having lost two in a row on the road. I am sure their coach John Dobson will be very frustrated and disappointed with the two losses. They were well within their reach of winning those games, but made some errors and mistakes.

“Thomond Park is a tough place to go, but Munster are in a little bit of a precarious position at the moment. They are feeding a couple of internationals back in, they’ve got a couple of injuries and they would have been really disappointed with the way they played for the vast majority of the game against Ulster the other night.

“They started well in the first 20 minutes and went 14-3 up, but then they didn’t really fire a shot until the last five minutes of the game. Their set-piece malfunctioned, their breakdown was poor and their attack was really poor.

“There’s no better place than back home to try and get a result, although it does bring a bit of added pressure, for sure. The Stormers are going to be very, very physical and if Munster are second best in the physical stakes they will be under pressure. I am sure John Dobson would love to get a result here.

“There are four or five points potentially on board here for either side, so they will both be going hard for that.

“Speaking as an ex-Munster man, I would be really disappointed if they didn’t improve dramatically this week. Playing at Thomond Park, there is an expectancy that you’ve got to bring real emotion, passion and desire when you play there, whoever puts on the jersey. It doesn’t get you results, you’ve got to play well too, but Munster have to improve a lot this week, for sure.”

Jean de Villiers:

“It’s been a pretty shaky start to their campaign from the Stormers. Even their first game, against the Emirates Lions at Ellis Park, they almost lost it towards the end and probably should have lost it in a way. Then, as we have seen with this competition, it’s really hard to tour and to get victories away from home, especially if you are travelling to or from South Africa.

“The Stormers have found that to be particularly hard this year. They have found it tough and the experience they are lacking with the ‘Boks not being back yet makes it difficult for them to get victories.

“They are probably lacking a little bit from a leadership point of view, in terms of experience at this level leading teams.

“Playing Munster in Thomond Park is a tough task for any team, not that Munster have been playing brilliant rugby, they have been pretty average in a way, but they have managed to get a couple of wins.

“I think just in terms of where these two teams are at, it is really difficult to see a Stormers victory, just taking the history into account and the form of the two teams.”