URC quarter-final: Bulls 45 Munster 14Munster captain Craig Casey said they were not going to use an extensive injury list as an excuse as a season, which promised so much when Clayton McMillan’s reign started with five wins in a row, came to a predictable conclusion in Pretoria when they were taken apart by a rampant Bulls side.The loss of the likes of Tadhg Beirne and Jack Crowley was always going to make this an extremely difficult task but Casey said they can have no complaints and would not use their casualty list to explain this six tries to two loss.“Nah, we’re not going to use that as an excuse now,” said Casey. “Look, we’re missing some key players but it was next man up, we’ve had full trust in our squad.“There’s some very keen young fellas there that were driving the squad on for the whole year. So, that’s not an excuse for our side, the Bulls were just better on the day and that’s it.”The reality is that Munster’s squad depth is not able to carry the loss of at least half a dozen starters and the Bulls, with a rampant scrum, were not long taking them apart in front of a crowd of 18,756 at Loftus Versfeld.The margin, second only to Leinster’s 76-14 dumping of Glasgow four years ago since the current URC format was adopted, could and should have been much greater.Two tries in the opening nine minutes and two more in the closing five minutes of the first half put the Bulls in a commanding 31-14 interval lead.Gavin Coombes and Fineen Wycherley of Munster dejected after the match. Photograph: Darren Stewart/ Inpho/Steve Haag Sports In between Munster managed to recover from a disastrous start and get the margin down to three points, but the Pretoria side upped the tempo again before the break and blew them away.Munster knew they needed to lay down an early marker to have a realistic chance but the opening stages were chastening for McMillan’s men, who were blown away in the opening scrums, even on their own ball, and were stretched out wide from the outset.The pace which the Bulls attacked the line was awesome and it was no surprise when, with 82 per cent possession, they sped into a 14-0 lead after 10 minutes, a third try having been scratched for a forward pass.Scrumhalf Embrose Papier got the opening try after they went to the left corner with a penalty and when Shane Daly failed to find touch with a clearance, Willie le Roux countered to send Kurt-Lee Arendse over.Munster lost lock Tom Ahern to injury but finally managed to settle with Casey and Alex Nankivell helping to build the phases, while replacement Fineen Wycherley impressed up front.They went through 13 phases without scoring after going to the corner with a penalty but three phases from a tapped penalty saw Jack O’Donoghue get them off the mark at the end of the opening quarter.That prompted Handre Pollard to go for the posts with a 35-metre penalty three minutes later before Nankivell, who kickstarted a 23-phase move with a good break, sniped over by the posts with JJ Hanrahan’s conversion cutting the gap to 17-14 eight minutes from the break as Munster reduced the possession stakes to 55-45 per cent.Gavin Coombes of Munster is tackled by Ruan Nortje of the Bulls. Photograph: Darren Stewart/Inpho/Steve Haag Sports But Munster made a mess of the restart, failing to support replacement hooker Diarmuid Barron when he received Pollard’s kick. The Bulls went to the left corner and hooker Johan Grobbelaar scored.And they turned the screw before the break, this time going to the right corner when Nankivell was penalised for hands on the ground, and number eight Cameron Hanekom looped around to get through Hanrahan, Seán O’Brien and John Hodnett to score. Pollard’s fifth kick made it 31-14 at the break.Munster didn’t score in the second half, the Bulls ran in a couple of more tries and could have had a bagful such was their dominance even after emptying their bench as they turn their attentions to a semi-final joust with Glasgow Warriors in Murrayfield next weekend.Bulls killed off any notion of a comeback when Papier intercepted a pop pass from Casey to O’Brien deep inside his own 22 and sprinted to the other end to score his second try under the posts after 54 minutes, while winger Stravino Jacobs scored the Bulls’ sixth try wide on the left going into a scoreless final quarter.Munster, who had to bring on academy scrumhalf Ben O’Donovan for injured backrower Brian Gleeson with Casey switching to outhalf to allow O’Donovan slot in at number nine in a reshuffled side, saw their season ground to an inevitable halt and the commencement of a postmortem with plenty of issues to sort out on and off the field after a campaign which opened with such hope but ended in disarray.SCORING SEQUENCE – 5 mins: Papier try, Pollard con, 7-0; 9: Arendse try, Pollard con, 14-0; 20: O’Donoghue try, Hanrahan con, 14-7; 23: Pollard pen, 17-7; 33: Nankivell try, Hanrahan con, 17-14; 35: Grobbelaar try, Pollard con, 24-14; 39: Hanekom try, Pollard con, 31-14; Half-time: 31-14; 54: Papier try, Pollard con, 38-14; 59: Jacobs try, Pollard con, 45-14.BULLS: W le Roux; KL Arendse, C Moodie, H Vorster, S Jacobs; H Pollard, E Papier; G Steenekamp, J Grobbelaar, F Klopper; R Vermaak, R Nortje; M Coetzee (capt), E Louw, C Hanekom. Replacements: JH Wessels for Steenekamp, M Smith for Klopper, C Wiese for Vermaak, J Rudolph for Louw, P de Wet for Papier (all 57 mins); S Gans for Vorster (60); M van Staden for Hanekom (64); S Petersen for le Roux (71).MUNSTER: M Haley; A Smith, A Nankivell, S O’Brien, S Daly; J J Hanrahan, C Casey (capt); J Loughman, N Scannell, M Ala’alatoa; T Ahern, E O’Connell; J O’Donoghue, J Hodnett, B Gleeson. Replacements: F Wycherley for Ahern (10 mins); D Barron for Scannell (33); G Coombes for Gleeson (48), A Kendellen for Hodnett (both 48); D Kelly for O’Brien (54); Gleeson for O’Donohue (57); J Wycherley for Loughman (60); C Bartley for Ala’alatoa (69); B O’Donovan for Gleeson (72).Referee: A Piardi (Ita).