Munster suffered a third successive defeat in the United Rugby Championship after losing 41-24 to Sharks in Durban.
The South African side came flying out of the traps and scored two tries inside four minutes through Aphelele Fassi and Makazole Mapimpi, both converted by Jordan Hendrikse.
Hendrikse landed a penalty to extend Sharks' lead to 17-0 before Tom Ahern responded for Munster in the 19th minute.
Rory Scannell played a major part in it as he reacted quickest to a loose ball at the back of a ruck and fed Ahern who raced in from 40 yards, beating Grant Williams to the line. Jack Crowley's attempt at the extras sailed wide meaning the gap was still 12 points.
After a kicking battle between the sides, Sharks grabbed their third try when Williams went in under the posts, leaving Hendrikse a simple kick.
Munster responded with their second try 31 minutes in.
Crowley's dinked kick through caused uncertainty for the hosts and Ahern managed to gather possession and play out wife where Calvin Nash forced his way through to the five-metre line before Mikey Haley profited to score out wide. Once again, the conversion was missed by Crowley.
With the score 24-10 in Sharks' favour, the period in the lead up to the break seemed like it would be critical and unfortunately for Graham Rowntree's side, the home side were able to secure the bonus point, Hendrikse making no mistake and then knocking over another penalty early in the second half as their lead moved out to 24 points.
After Sharks had James Venter sin-binned, Hendrikse landed his fifth successive conversion when Vincent Tshituka charged down a clearance from Billy Burns and Munster were staring down the barrel of an embarrassing loss.
FULL MATCH DETAILS
However, the away side did show plenty of character in the closing stages to secure a bonus point with two tries.
Nash was the scorer of the first - and it was a fine score too.
Ethan Coughlan's interception relieved some Sharks' pressure and as they got up the pitch, Burns cleverly picked out Nash with a crossfield pitch and he cut inside and dotted down. Burns nailed the conversion, as her did when Munster captain Tadhg Beirne got over when the clock was in the red to secure that losing bonus point.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
