Stormers v Connacht: United Rugby Championship preview as defending champions set to reach back-to-back finals

31-25 ...

Stormers made a lot of mistakes, but still managed to pull it thru….they are a great unit !! Congrats stormers.

Well played Stormers, fully deserving of the win. Stomers looked quite nervous at times but the main difference between the teams was how good the Stormers where from broken play. Libbok was X-Factor, while his opposite number had a bit of a ma re.
As a Connacht fan was a decent showing, but simply far too many missed tackles and some bad defensive decisions. Ruthlessly punished after kicking the ball and the defense becoming disjointed during the chase. I was worried when the score went to 24-8 we where going be in for an embarrassing hiding but they kept going and held most of the possession, even if it was us mostly running into a wall over and over but still got through a couple of times through sheer persistence. We held up in the scrum which was surprise and the had the better of the line out and coincided less penalties, so all in all a respectable showing from Ireland's "weakest team" 10,053 kilometers from home, running the Stomers much closer than the Bulls did.

Also great to see such a high turn out for the game. I don't think many would of predicted a turn out of 47,000 for a Stomers-Connacht so soon into the URC's lifecycle.

As for Leinster-Munster....ROFL
Leinster are by miles the best team in the URC but where utterly arrogant in their team selection yesterday. I know Leinster have dominated this fixture in recent years and Munster where down a lot of their best players, and also Leinster's big prize is the Champions Cup but resting several of their top players in a semi final against a Munster team who where always going to be up for was both disrespectful to Munster and the URC as a tournament. Even in the press conference afterwards Leo Cullen didn't seem to be that bothered, and was even laughing at times.

Of course this loss could motivate them totally for the Champions Cup final next weekend but it could also heap way more pressure on them. La Rochelle are a quality team and they are of course coached by Munster legend Ronan O'Gara who would be oh so delighted to bop Leinster for a second year running. For all the people who have been creaming themselves about Leinster's depth if they go trophy-less for two seasons in a row with the resources they have at their disposal Cullen is going be under massive pressure.
As for the final, should be great. I'm imagine it will be a sell out in Cape Town, seen that clip of the Stormers team and managers going nuts when Munster won. I'd say everyone in Cape Town is on a bit of buzz, except maybe the poor grounds keepers at that stadium. Seriously what idiot thought it was a good idea to have a monster truck race there.
I'd slightly favor the Stormers, but they will need to play better than they did yesterday. Munster have now won 5 of their last 6 away games including one against the Stormers. They will probably be back to full strength in two weeks time and fully motivated and looking to end a 12 year trophy drought.