Reigning URC champions the DHL Stormers punched their ticket to the 2022/23 final with an emphatic 43 – 25 victory over Connacht on Saturday.
Despite the impressive victory, the Stormers had to sweat it out for a few hours to see where they would be playing the final.
Having lost at home to Munster Rugby in round 17, the Cape Townians slipped from 2nd to 3rd position on the URC table and with it potentially let a home semi-final slip.
Yet, with their fate in the hands of two Irish provinces in Connacht and Munster, needing both to win their respective quarterfinal and semi-finals to secure a final in Cape Town. All of the permutations unfolded perfectly for John Dobson’s men.
Firstly, Connacht went to Belfast and overturned a heavily fancied Ulster side at the Kingspan Stadium in the quarterfinals whilst the Stormers thumped the Bulls in Cape Town.
The second part of the equation was perhaps more of a stretch with an injury depleted Munster needing to turn the tide of history and down Leinster in Dublin.
With three minutes left to play, Dobson and his men were booking their tickets to Dublin as Leinster held a slender advantage.
As sighs of despair were heard in Cape Town and counties of Munster, Jack Crowley stepped up and landed a drop goal to edge Munster in front with two minutes to play.
Displaying shades of the great Ronan O’Gara, the 23-year-old Crowley managed to situation perfectly and quite frankly showed the guts required to be a hero in the face of immense adversity.
Whilst the celebrations in Munster would’ve been immense, the party that took place at the DHL Stadium looked to have been of equally epic proportions.
So the stage is now set for a rematch at the DHL Stadium for all of the marbles on Saturday May 27th .
Credit to Brendan Nel for the video!
Stormers squad reaction after the 2nd URC semi final
by u/Vandrg in rugbyunion
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