IN FRONT of a vociferous home crowd support of 28,000, Munster suffered a first-ever loss (27-19) to Stormers in the URC in Cape Town.
It was also a first defeat for the visitors to South Africa opposition in 10 fixtures.
Munster are now 11th in a URC league table headed by arch rivals Leinster.
Tries from Tom Farrell and replacement Eoghan Clarke and a conversion from Jack Crowley meant Munster were just two points, 14-12, behind the hosts at the interval.
In the second half Stormers came out much like in the first, scoring within the first 10 minutes. Gavin Coombes got over for Munster, but with a bonus point try, penalty and drop goal all in the last twenty minutes it was Stormers who took the victory.
Next, Munster will take on the Hollywoodbets Sharks in Durban on Saturday.
It’s an outing for which Shane Daly is an injury concern.
“I said to the lads in there, we’ve got to stick together now and be strong,” Rowntree told told RTÉ Sport.
“We’ll own up to the stuff we’re not doing, but I’m not having us fall apart. We’ve a huge game next week now, but we’ve got to get better.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat anything with the lads, they know that.”
Munster: Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Shane Daly (Burns ’48); Jack Crowley, Conor Murray (Coughlan ’72); Jeremy Loughman (Ryan ’50), Niall Scannell (Clarke ’24 for HIA, Scannell ‘37, Clarke ’59, Scannell ’72), John Ryan (Archer ’50) ; Jean Kleyn (Wycherley ’64), Tadhg Beirne, captain; Tom Ahern, Alex Kendellen (Quinn ’66), Jack O’Donoghue (Coombes ’50).
Replacements: Eoghan Clarke, Kieran Ryan, Stephen Archer, Fineen Wycherley, Ruadhán Quinn, Ethan Coughlan, Billy Burns, Gavin Coombes.
