Rowntree’s Red Army ready to roll

Saturday's United Rugby Championship final between the Stormers, the holders, and Munster at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town is a 55,000 sell-out.

Leinster, the runaway winners at the top of the table, failed to make it to the end for the second successive season after fielding a weakened team in the Dublin semi-final against Munster and losing to a late Jack Crowley drop-goal.

Leinster fielded only three players who had started the Heineken Champions Cup semi-final against Toulouse, resting most of their frontline players ahead of yesterday's Champions Cup final against La Rochelle.

Munster were not at full strength either, but their changes were enforced by injury. Given the attempts made by the URC organisers to boost the profile of the league, which even with South African teams involved lacks the sway of the Top 14 or the Gallagher Premiership, Leinster's decision smacked of disregard to broadcasters and backers.

All their big games in recent weeks have been in Dublin, including the La Rochelle final, and they would have played the Stormers at the Aviva Stadium. It is the stage of the season when top players expect to be involved, and even in a World Cup year the credibility of a tournament should count for something.

Leinster would argue they should have beaten Munster, a side they doubled in the regular season, but in the end it was the right result with making the final clearly meaning more to Graham Rowntree's men.

It has been a challenging season for Rowntree, above, one of a quarter of England 2015 World Cup coaches currently in Ireland along with Stuart Lancaster, Andy Farrell and Mike Catt, but Munster have forged their reputation on staying in a fight and having what counts at the end.

When they travelled to Cape Town last month, they had still to secure their place in the play-offs. The Stormers were unbeaten at home all season but the Irish province returned home with five points and a quarter-final date at Glasgow followed.

“The win over Leinster was true emotion, but it cannot be our final,” said Rowntree. “We back the work we have done and we back our fitness. We dealt with the power game of the Stormers last time, but they will be better than they were that night.

“The final will be our sixth away game on the bounce and we will enjoy it. There is a lot we have to improve on and it is a case of working on our game and growing it, as boring as that sounds.”

Last month's match between the Stormers and Munster attracted a crowd of a few hundred over 15,000, but such was the demand for tickets for next weekend that the website crashed with thousands of fans seeing the sold out sign after eventually connecting.

“There will be opportunities and we have to finish off what we create,” said the Stormers captain and South Africa prop Stephen Kitshoff. “The team that executes the best will be the one that comes away with the trophy and we have to learn from the last time we played Munster.”

The Stormers had expected to be playing Leinster. “We had booked to go to Dublin,” said head coach John Dobson. “I was looking forward to it because it would have been a great experience for the group, but our mission is to make Cape Town smile and to be playing at home is massive.”