A late penalty by Jordan Hendrikse combined with a strong second half by the Lions, was enough to pick up a narrow 23-21 point win over Munster in this afternoon's URC clash in Johannesburg.

Hendrikse was inspired from the tee kicking 13 points for his team, while their lethal exploits on the wings reaped the rewards with two well taken tries.

The Munster forward play was dominant close to the try line, with the Wycherley brothers and John Ryan all crossing for their tries, but they failed to add a fourth in the second half.

The Irish province had a better start than the previous weekend, John Ryan managing to power his way over for Munsters opening score early on, they ran their phases well and in the end the prop gathered in the ruck and crossed for the opening try, Jack Crowley added the conversion for a 7-0 lead after nine minutes.

Munster continued their strong start and had their second try before the end of the opening quarter, again their ruck pining the Lions back to their try line, after a couple pick and goes it was Josh Wycherley who managed to touch down under severe pressure, Crowley added the extras for a 14-0 lead.

The Emirates Lions battled back to get their opening score after 32 minutes, a great lineout saw them advance on the Munster 22m line, they offloaded wide where Edwill van der Merwe sprinted down the line, evading two tackles before he dived over to score.

Jordan Hendrikse kicked the conversion, a difficult opening kick for the fly half, but it helped reduce the Munster lead to 14-7 after 33 minutes elapsed on the clock. The kicker added another three points minutes later, Munsters discipline again becoming a hindrance as they led by four with minutes left in the half.

After the Lions were penalised late on for a forward pass, the Irish outfit took full advantage of the mistake their scrum again holding firm, but a beautiful team try was the result again from a great attack, Neil Cronin in the end with a lovely offload for Fineen Wycherley to bulldoze his way over the line, Crowley landed his third conversion for a 21-10 half time lead.

Munster thought they had the bonus point on the 50th minute mark, they had started the second half well and again their forward line was causing trouble with Alex Kendellen managing to cross over, after TMO review there was a forward pass in the build up to the try. 

The second half was a tighter contest as both teams began to struggle in attack, both defensive structures holding firm over turning possession close to their try line, evident by the opening score of the half coming in the 63rd minute Hendrikse adding another penalty.

Just two minutes later the Lions hit a killer blow for Munster, making it a one point game with Wandisile Simelane running down the line to cross over, Hendrikse who had just kicked a score from the tee continued his form to make it a one point game with 70 minutes on the clock.

The Lions were looking the stronger late on looking for that game winning score, another sloppy offside by Munster gave Hendrikse another penalty from close range, he was having a fantastic afternoon and put them two points ahead in the 75th minute.

After the penalty Munster had to dig deep a find a late score to leave with a victory, they advanced toward the Lions 22 but again they forced a massive turnover, a common phrase from the contest as Munster were short numerous times

Shortly after Munster kicked for touch a massive kick just outside their 22 again, but the throw was not straight and from the resulting scrum they kicked to touch as the clock ticked further into the red, a huge blow for the Irish province as they dropped to fourth in the table.