The first quarter in the oppressive Bloemfontein heat was one dominated by the defences. The Bulls scrum was looking ominously powerful, particularly loose-head Gerhard Steenkamp who lifted the sizeable frame of Michael Ala’alatoa off the ground at a set-piece that led to a penalty budged into the corner. However, Munster survived after some good defence forced Willie Le Roux into a spillage.
Munster opened the scoring on the 20-minute mark when they took advantage of a penalty deep in Bulls territory.
After good work from the pack, Sean O’Brien was sent over in the left corner after a looping pass from Alex Kendellen. Jack Crowley added the extras for a seven-point lead.
The visitors lost Ireland wing Calvin Nash after he failed an HIA and 10 minutes later when they were undone by a bit of individual brilliance from Bulls scrum-half Papier.
He picked off the back of a maul on the halfway line and scorched away from the red shirts in defence and completed his score with a swan dive under the posts for an easy conversion for Handre Pollard to level the game.
The hosts were reduced to 14 men after 33 minutes when second row Ruan Nortje was sin-binned for making head-on-head contact with Diarmuid Barron at the breakdown but, it was Johan Ackermann’s men who scored next despite their man disadvantage.
It was Canan Moodie who finished in the corner and Pollard was accurate again with the difficult conversion from out wide to give his side a seven-point lead at the break.
Nortje’s yellow card was not upgraded by the bunker but the Springbok second row was still in the bin just after the break and the men in red did eventually take advantage.
It was Kendellen who made a big break down the middle into the 22 and, after good ground made by the rest of the pack including half-time sub Edwin Edogbo, Kendellen’s back-row partner Ahern went over in the corner.
Munster were very much back in the game again but they were undone by the electric Papier again. After a spillage from JJ Hanrahan in the Bulls ’22’, back row Elrigh Louw hacked the ball ahead into the considerable acreage behind the Munster line.
The foot race was on and it was the home scrum half who won it and a favourable bounce of the ball saw him under the posts for another seven-pointer.
To the visitors’ credit, they kept plugging away and would not lie down. The pack was holding its own against their sizeable opponents and, after going through the phases, it was Ahern again who powered over which, combined with another Crowley conversion, reduced the deficit to two again.
However, while Munster were really earning their scores, they were being outdone in the open plains and, 19 year-old sub Cheswill Jooste stepped around Alex Nankivell and was off to the races in the back field before dotting down for a stunning individual effort that gave Papier’s opener a run for his money.
Pollard continued to be perfect off the tee and added a penalty from halfway for good measure to open up the advantage to 12.
A short pass from Crowley found his full-back Ben O’Connor just off his shoulder to burst through and go under the posts to pull the game back to five points.
Another Pollard three-pointer put his side beyond a one-score advantage.
However, in stark contrast to last week’s dismantling at the hands of the Sharks, the men in red came back at them once again and it was Edogbo, assisted by a shunt from his brother Sean, that powered over for an unconverted score.