WHAT SPRINGS TO mind when you think of Munster Rugby?

A parochial bond between club and fans, surely. A chip on the shoulder, but whisper it. And miracles, most certainly.

The three crowns.

Rarely has a sports organisation’s history been so replete with victories that made virtually no sense at the time other than the fact that they were achieved by the very team that pulled them off; and yet Munster have pulled a Munster so many times since 1978 that many people expect them to win today’s URC final against the reigning-champion Stormers in their own backyard, where the South Africans have lost just once since December 2021.

Incidentally, the only team to beat the Stormers in Cape Town in the intervening year and a half was — well, obviously…

It’s only six weeks since that balls-to-the-wall Munster win at DHL Stadium, and it didn’t make sense then either.

It came at a stage when their 2022/23 season was veering dangerously close to becoming one that should never again be mentioned, and it proved a shot in the arm for Graham Rowntree’s side at a time in which legs and minds seemed weary.

Take into consideration one of the chief complaints towards the six-year reign of his predecessor, Johann van Graan, and it’s almost jarring that fate has deigned to so inextricably link the best parts of Rowntree’s first year in charge to South Africa.

Munster’s season was initially transformed at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in November when Rowntree’s men saw off a talent-stacked South African ‘A’ side. Their best player this season has been Jean Kleyn, the Ireland international lock who was born and reared in South Africa where he played for today’s opposition before moving to Limerick in 2016. And their extraordinary run to the final both began in Cape Town and end there.

While Van Graan is obviously a good rugby coach, the notion that he was never quite the right fit for Munster is accentuated by the reality that the miracles dried up under his watch. His side were broadly unable to win big games that they had no right to win, the kind of thing for which a coach couldn’t possibly be criticised unless they happen to coach Munster. Crucially, though, the other two crowns started to take on a bit of rust, as well.

There is a comparative sheen to Rowntree’s Year One on all counts.

Underpinning it all has been the explosion into form of supposed has-beens or never-gonna-bes: whatever about the 29-year-old Kleyn conjuring a Test-level run of form, Stephen Archer — suspected by many to be at least 10 times as old as Kleyn — is leaving dents in lads that will show up in the fossil record a million years from now. Out the back, Shane Daly, 26, and Calvin Nash, 25, have each ripped the piss out of the idea that every player has a ‘ceiling’, thriving in a new-look, multi-layered attack and confounding perceptions of their respective skill sets. Indeed, with a handful of notable of exceptions, practically every Munster player looks better at rugby now than they did this time last year.

That’s a testament to Mike Prendergast, Denis Leamy, Ian Costello and the rest, and tying all of their work together is a head coach who literally threw his eyes up to heaven and turned to Keith Earls in incredulity when it was put to him after Munster’s semi-final victory at the Aviva that his side had, in some ways, begun to resemble Leinster.

Graham Rowntree already has a Munster tattoo on his upper left arm, and about six inches north of that you’ll find an enormous chip. He wears both of them well.

Fitting, then, that this season which has seen Munster so enjoyably meld old values with a new approach should culminate in an old-school run to a final on a new frontier.

While Munster’s most famous upset victories of the professional era have occurred at home, they have equally woven themselves into the tapestry of club rugby for their ability to take the entire show on the road: fans, chips, miracles and all.

Their recent run of five successive away games — Sharks (L), Stormers (W), Sharks (D), Glasgow (W), Leinster (W) — will dictate that they’re as ready as they possibly can be for today’s seismic challenge against the defending champions in front of 55,000 fans.

And as Irish and South African cultures begin to trade notes in the URC era, there is something broadly appealing about the fact that Cape Town will this weekend bear witness to the full Munster away-day experience as though it’s London or Edinburgh or Bordeaux.

Such cozy sentiments will go out the window as Graham Rowntree’s miracle-chasing Munster seek to dethrone John Dobson’s electrifying Stormers on their own patch.

Theirs would be a crown worth adding to the collection.

Stormers

• 15. Damian Willemse
• 14. Angelo Davids
• 13. Ruhan Nel
• 12. Dan du Plessis
• 11. Leolin Zas
• 10. Manie Libbok
• 9. Herschel Jantjies

• 1. Steven Kitshoff (captain)
• 2. Joseph Dweba
• 3. Frans Malherbe
• 4. Ruben van Heerden
• 5. Marvin Orie
• 6. Deon Fourie
• 7. Hacjivah Dayimani
• 8. Evan Roos

Replacements:

• 16. Jean-Jacques Kotze
• 17. Alistair Vermaak
• 18. Neethling Fouche
• 19. Ben-Jason Dixon
• 20. Willie Engelbrecht
• 21. Marcel Theunissen
• 22. Paul de Wet
• 23. Clayton Blommetjies

Munster:

• 15. Mike Haley
• 14. Calvin Nash
• 13. Antoine Frisch
• 12. Malakai Fekitoa
• 11. Shane Daly
• 10. Jack Crowley
• 9. Conor Murray

• 1. Jeremy Loughman
• 2. Diarmuid Barron
• 3. Stephen Archer
• 4. Jean Kleyn
• 5. Tadhg Beirne
• 6. Peter O’Mahony (captain)
• 7. John Hodnett
• 8. Gavin Coombes

Replacements: 

• 16. Niall Scannell
• 17. Josh Wycherley
• 18. Roman Salanoa
• 19. RG Snyman
• 20. Alex Kendellen
• 21. Craig Casey
• 22. Ben Healy
• 23. Keith Earls 

Referee: Andrea Piardi [FIR].