![\"alex-kendellen\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774715714_313_.jpeg\")
\n Alex Kendellen makes a break. Steve Haag Sports \/ Darren Stewart\/INPHO<\/p>\n
Bulls 34
\nMunster 31<\/p>\n
MUNSTER WERE EDGED 34-31 by the Bulls in an intense United Rugby Championship arm-wrestle at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.<\/p>\n
Ireland out-half Jack Crowley impressed upon his return from international duty, but two missed conversions proved costly in a three-point defeat.<\/p>\n
Munster outscored the Bulls by five tries to four, but the home side were well-served by the boot of double World Cup winning out-half Handre Pollard, who converted all of their tries and kicked two long-range penalties in the second half.<\/p>\n
A first half in which dominance ebbed and flowed saw the Bulls lead 14-7 at the break, but Munster were quick out of the blocks in the second half.<\/p>\n
A short lineout caught the Bulls napping as Alex Kendellan then burst through the line. A strong carry by replacement Sean Edogbo continued the momentum, and even though prop Michael Ala\u2019alatoa was stopped just short of the line, a long ball out to Thomas Ahern seeing the flanker score his first try of the afternoon.<\/p>\n
Crowley missed the conversion, meaning the Bulls still led 14-12, and their scrum-half Embrose Papier produced his second blink-and-you\u2019ll-miss-it moment of brilliant pace to score again.<\/p>\n
The Bulls were misserved by their discipline, however, back-to-back penalties allowing Ahern score his second try as the teams continued their back-and-forth trading of blows.<\/p>\n
\n Alex Kendellen makes a break. Steve Haag Sports \/ Darren Stewart\/INPHO<\/p>\n
Steve Haag Sports \/ Darren Stewart\/INPHO \/ Darren Stewart\/INPHO\n<\/p>\n
Replacement wing Cheswill Jooste made a dazzling dash through the otherwise stingy Munster defence and Pollard\u2019s first penalty then put the Bulls 31-19 up at the water break midway through the second half.<\/p>\n
Munster coach Clayton McMillan will be delighted with the character and determination his team showed on a hot Pretoria day to fight back and almost snatch a notable victory at the Loftus stronghold.<\/p>\n
Crowley\u2019s lovely delayed pass found fullback Ben O\u2019Connor racing through on a perfect line for their fourth try and replacement lock Edwin Edogbo then forced his way over with four minutes remaining. The conversion would have meant a one-point game, but Crowley\u2019s kick, 15 metres in from touch, hit the post.<\/p>\n
The result meant Munster are hanging on in sixth place on the standings, with the Bulls now just a point behind thanks to their bonus-point triumph.<\/p>\n
Bulls scorers:<\/p>\n
Tries \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Papier [2], Moodie, Jooste<\/p>\n Conversions<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Pollard [4]<\/p>\n Penalties \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Pollard [2]<\/p>\n Munster scorers:<\/p>\n Tries<\/strong> \u2013 O\u2019Brien, Ahern [2], O\u2019Connor, E. Edogbo<\/p>\n Conversions<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Crowley [3]<\/p>\n BULLS<\/strong>: Le Roux; Moodie (Jooste, 56), Gans, Vorster, Arendse; Pollard, Papier (Burger, 72); Steenekamp (Wessels, 49), Grobbelaar (Van Staden, 49), Klopper (Mchunu, 49); Vermaak, Nortje; Coetzee, Louw (Hanekom, 49), Carr (Wiese 57).<\/p>\n MUNSTER<\/strong>: O\u2019Connor; Nash (Hanrahan, 23), Kelly, Nankivell, O\u2019Brien; Crowley, Casey; Milne (Loughman, 50), Barron (Scannell, 52), Ala\u2019alatoa (Ryan, 50); Kleyn (E Edogbo, 50), Wycherley; Ahern (Hodnett, 53), Kendellan, Gleeson (S Edogbo, 40).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bulls 34 Munster 31 MUNSTER WERE EDGED 34-31 by the Bulls in an intense United Rugby Championship arm-wrestle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[76],"tags":[61008,7838,18,19,17,5599,2525,132,59006],"class_list":["post-408741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-bulls","tag-close","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-munster","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-urc"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116307776894982708","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}