The Emirates Lions went down 33-3 to Irish outfit Munster in Round 12 of the Vodacom United Championship at Musgrave Park in Cork. Trailing by just nine points at the halftime break, both teams had to navigate gusty winds coupled by non-stop rain for atleast 50 minutes of the encounter.

Emirates Lions Head Coach Ivan van Rooyen

“We felt we didn’t capatilise on the wind factor in the first half.  We would have liked to play a more territorial game especially with the win behind our backs. We did however manage to use that wind advantage at some stages, where at some stages I felt we overplayed a bit.”

“We are obviously disappointed in the result. It’s not a nice feeling especially against an in-form Muster team who have performed well over the past 5-6 weeks. They were good at pinning us in our own half and we probably forced one or two things which gave them an opportunity to kick for the corner to put us back under pressure.”

“Not getting the desired reward after repeated scrum efforts where we felt we had ascendency going forward was a bit of a momentum stopper for us. I think if we walked away with five or seven points from that we would have been in a position to put them under pressure.”

The team now shifts their attention to Paris where they take on Stade Francais in the EPCR Challenge Cup on Saturday, 14 January 2022.

“We said afterwards collectively that we need to get back onto the horse and make it count next week. It’s up to us to change it so it’s important for us to prepare well next week against a very good Stade Francais side.

Scorers:

Munster 33 (12) – Tries: Scott Buckley (2), Jack O’Donoghue, Paddy Patterson, Liam Coombes. Conversions: Ben Healy (4).

Emirates Lions 3 (3) – Penalty goal: Jordan Hendrikse.