United Rugby Championship: Sharks 41-24 Munster – Southern province take bonus point from heavy defeat in Durban

Munster were heavily beaten by the Sharks in Durban but took a point from the United Rugby Championship contest thanks to Tadhg Beirne’s 81st minute try.

The 41-22 reverse means that Munster go into the international break with three consecutive defeats and having lost four of their six URC games this season.

The Sharks, boasting a large contingent of Rassie Erasmus’ Springbok squad for November, had their four-try bonus wrapped up by the half-time interval.

Aphelele Fassi had opened the scoring for the hosts with less than a minute on the clock and he was followed across the whitewash by Makazole Mapimpi, Grant Williams and Andre Esterhuizen in the opening 37 minutes.

Overpowered in the scrum and struggling with the Sharks pace out wide, Munster did respond through Tom Ahern and Mike Haley before the break.

The four-try bonus will certainly have been the goal for Graham Rowntree’s men after the turn but they would concede the first ten points of the second half thanks to a Jordan Hendrikse penalty and Vincent Tshituka’s chargedown score.

Calvin Nash’s try off a Billy Burns kick-pass brought Munster within a score of the consolation bonus-point and it was left to captain Beirne to provide it from close range in the last play of the game.