The DHL Stormers will attempt to avenge May 2023’s defeat to Munster in the United Rugby Championship final in a key round five fixture at Thomond Park in Limerick this week.
Munster are the reigning URC champions after beating the Stormers 19-13 in the final earlier this year. The Stormers had won the inaugural URC title in 2022.
“Losing the grand final to Munster is still painful,” said Stormers hooker Scarra Ntubeni.
“The emotion will come later in the week but now it is about having a proper plan and us working through it. That’s the main thing. After winning the URC in the first season we had a target on our backs; now Munster have a target on theirs.
“We’ll be chasing them, hunting them and revenge will be in the back of our mind.”
Munster are currently in seventh position on the URC’s 16-team points table. This week, they’ll be equipped with several returning Ireland internationals. Ireland exited the Rugby World Cup after a quarter-final defeat to New Zealand last month.
“We’re going to be playing some internationals this weekend, especially in the forward pack. We’re really proud as forwards and we’ve let ourselves down a bit lately,” added Ntubeni.
“We’ve tried over the past few seasons to be one of the better packs, and there’s a lot of pressure on us to pull through for the backs.”
The Stormers’ most recent result in the URC was last week’s 20-17 defeat to Benetton. The loss saw the Cape Town-based team slip to ninth position in the standings.
“We wanted to go to Munster on the front foot, not the back foot. The defeat against Benetton is extremely disappointing,” said Stormers coach John Dobson.
“We needed this win. It was one of the wins we wanted on tour, so it is hugely disappointing for us. It puts a lot of pressure on, but we have been in these positions before and we do fight back.”
