‘This was for the people we’ve lost over the years’ – Emotional Graham Rowntree hails Munster heroes

After 12 years of pain on and off the pitch, the former England prop has guided Munster back to the winners’ enclosure and they did it the hard way by taking down the United Rugby Championship holders on their home turf in Cape Town.

He’s been on the journey for a while now; working as an assistant to Johann van Graan for three seasons before becoming the main man last summer.

It didn’t go swimmingly; the first few weeks of the season were uninspiring and put them under pressure.

They took plenty of criticism, but resolved to make the best of it; sticking to their plan to expand their game and, despite a mid-season wobble, they got there in the end.

European qualification was the initial goal, but once they made the play-offs they rolled up their sleeves and took down Glasgow Warriors, Leinster and the Stormers away.

So, when the Stormers’ maul came crashing down and the Italian brought an epic final to a close, the Munster coach was overwhelmed, while down on the pitch captain Peter O’Mahony reminded the players of those they’ve lost along the way.

"It's elation from me, that. Head in my hands. Emotion. I'm not going to lie, it was emotion at the end there,” Rowntree said.

"I'm not going to lie, it's a huge moment for the club. Players, fans, they've been very patient waiting for this trophy.

"The club has lost special people in that time, Pete spoke brilliantly about it at the end.

"It's a special group, a number of players have waited patiently - Pete being one of those - to win a trophy.

"I'm immensely proud of this group, delighted for the whole of the province and its people who are here now; the playing group, their families, their kids watching, the supporters, the red army that followed us here; unbelievable.

"I mean, we drove into the stadium and there was a red army of flags coming in. I'm delighted for those people.

"The game itself, I'm proud of the lads. We did it tough.

"I spoke extensively yesterday about this being our sixth game away from home, can we do this?

"The placed we've gone, the performances we've put in; we haven't been perfect, we're still growing our game but we always stick in the game. We had some adversity.

"I'm unbelievably proud of everyone who's involved in this prestigious club that is Munster Rugby."

Munster were deserved winners, they took the game to the Stormers and should have led by more than 12-7 at the break.

And, while Rowntree was proud of the effort, he was also delighted with their character.

"I thought we were pretty good first-half in terms of keeping the ball, phase attack and making them work, their tight five work.

"I was disappointed we didn't go in at half-time 19 points up. Gavin Coombes' try that was disallowed, that was a perfectly good try.

"I was disappointed by that.

"We knew we had to keep the ball against these which is a challenge on a pitch like that, we had to deal with their power-game.

"We'd done our homework on them, because they're a great team, led by a great coach.

"The current champions, in their home stadium in front of 50,000-odd fans; it was going to take a big game from us and it was a question of sticking in the game.

"Things didn't go all our own way, there was some big moments in the game that went against us; big momentum swings, a couple of mauls - we were done for obstruction, we've got to show better pictures there.

"You get hit back again, hit back again and you've got to recover.

"What we have learned is the ability under pressure away from home to recover.

"I keep saying we're battle-hardened, we've not been able to rotate the squad massively and it's made us fit, match hardened.

"I'm dribbling on now, I've only had half a can! I can't wait to have a proper glass of red wine, this is ghastly."

For the coach who enjoyed great days he enjoyed with Leicester Tigers, England and the Lions it was a career-best day.

"My best ever. It'll sink in at some point, depending on how much Pinotage I drink in the next 12 hours,” he said with a smile.

"It's my best day ever. Just the manner of which we've done it, away from home, doing it tough, a tight group, not rotating the squad a lot. I'm immensely proud.”