Munster In South Africa – The Story So Far

The Munster squad will depart for South Africa on Monday for the province’s 11th trip to the Rainbow Nation since the first tour in April 2018.

Munster have played 16 games in South Africa over the past eight years, including three knock-out games in the Champions Cup and URC.

This year, Head Coach Clayton McMillan’s first tour to South Africa, will see Munster take on Sharks at King’s Park on Saturday, March 21 (5pm local) and Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, March 28 (2pm local).

In the province’s 16 games in South Africa to date, Munster have won eight, drawn two and lost six.

Southern Kings, Cheetahs, Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers have been Munster’s opposition with the games played at seven venues across South Africa.

Durban is the most frequent venue for Munster in South Africa with two regular season URC games, one Champions Cup round of 16 clash and one URC quarter-final played between Munster and Sharks.

In 2023, Munster made three trips to South Africa and spent four weeks there in the space of two months. That spell culminated in Munster’s most memorable win in the southern hemisphere – the 2023 URC Grand Final in Cape Town with Munster beating DHL Stormers 19-14 on May 27, 2023.

There have been some fantastic comeback results in South Africa with Munster coming from 17-3 down to beat Cheetahs 19-17 in Bloemfontein in April 2018. In 2023, after trailing 22-3 away to Sharks, Munster came back to rescue a 22-all draw and very nearly won the game at the death.

The biggest victory by margin was a 33-13 win over Lions in April 2024.

With games often going down to the wire, the average winning margin for the victorious side when Munster play away in South Africa is just nine points.

Munster have scored 55 tries in the 16 games, an average of 3.4 tries per game. Calvin Nash is Munster’s leading try-scorer in South Africa with five tries, Mike Haley and Shane Daly have four apiece.

Munster Rugby’s Results In South Africa

April 7, 2018: PRO14 – Southern Kings 22-39 Munster Rugby, Outeniqua Park, George;

April 13, 2018: PRO14 – Cheetahs 17-19 Munster Rugby, Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein;

November 4, 2018: PRO14 – Cheetahs 26-30 Munster Rugby, Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein;

October 5, 2019: PRO14 – Isuzu Southern Kings 20-31 Munster Rugby, Nelson Mandela Bay, Gqeberha;

October 11, 2019: PRO14 – Toyota Cheetahs 40-16 Munster Rugby, Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein;

March 12, 2022: URC – Vodacom Bulls 29-24 Munster Rugby, Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria;

March 19, 2022: URC – Emirates Lions 23-21 Munster Rugby, Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg;

April 1, 2023: Champions Cup Round of 16 – Sharks 50-35 Munster Rugby, King’s Park, Durban;

April 15, 2023: URC – DHL Stormers 24-26 Munster Rugby Rugby, DHL Stadium, Cape Town;

April 22, 2023: URC – Sharks 22-22 Munster Rugby, King’s Park, Durban;

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