Seven months on, Munster return to the ground where their season, and future, changed dramatically.
When the province were heavily beaten, 41-24, by the Sharks in Durban at the end of October, it marked the end of a miserable South African tour, and left them with just two wins from their opening six games.
It was a bad start to the season, but it was still a major shock when the province confirmed they had parted company with head coach Graham Rowntree just a couple of days after returning home from that trip.
With an early-season coaching change, and a further shake-up of the backroom team when forwards coach Andi Kyriacou was let go a few weeks later, it's naturally been a season of peaks and valleys for the province. Big wins, inexplicable defeats and everything in between. There's rarely a quiet week at Thomond Park.
Munster are never more dangerous than when they are rallying around a cause, and the pending departures of Peter O'Mahony, Conor Murray and Stephen Archer have been a real motivating factor in the last month.
You could argue they never should have let themselves get into a position where they needed to win their remaining two regular season games to secure a play-off spot, and more crucially Champions Cup rugby for next season. But after finding themselves in must-win territory, there is no doubting they delivered, and arguably played their best rugby of the season in each of those second halves.
Their reward for making it into the play-offs is another trip to South Africa, against a Sharks side that blew them apart back in October (above).
On paper, the Sharks should be overwhelming favourites. Their teamsheet boasts multiple World Cup-winning Springboks, notably in the pack where they start Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche and Vincent Koch, as well as former Munster and Leinster lock Jason Jenkins. If you can deal with them, you still need to worry about Jaden and Jordan Hendrikse, Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi, Andre Esterhuizen and Aphelele Fassi out in the backline.
The Sharks are the most fascinating team in the URC. Laden with superstars, they have consistently failed to play as a sum of their parts, and finished fourteenth last season with just four wins from 18 games. They did, however, secure Champions Cup qualification through winning the Challenge Cup.
They have been more consistent this season in the URC, and are the third seed for these play-offs, although there is still a question mark around their consistency, as their 10-7 home defeat to an understrength Leinster illustrated in March.
"We obviously know that the quality is there," Munster interim head coach Ian Costello said of the Sharks improvements this season.
"What we've seen over the last few weeks is how good they are off the ball; a team that’s highly motivated, that scramble well, they’re off the ground quickly. There’s a good spirit and I think that enhances the quality that they have, where maybe in the past it mightn’t have appeared they were as connected as that.
"They look like a very connected group and it comes out really in the work-rate moments or the non-talent moments. They’re very, very physical but what we’ve probably observed over the last few weeks if you make a line break it takes a lot of finishing before you score.
"So, there’s going to be really important battles off the ball in what we would call our catch-up in defence in our scramble or in our push-through in attack. If we bend them or if we break them we have to stay on top of them.
"That’s one of the key differences that we’ve picked up. Their work off the ball and their non-talent stuff is in a really good place in the last six to eight games anyway."
The must-win element of the last couple of games, and the motivation of giving O'Mahony (above), Murray and Archer a fitting send-off has obviously played a part in Munster's return to form, but other, more obvious factors are at play.
The end of the Women's Six Nations has allowed interim forwards coach Alex Codling return full-time with the province for the time being, and their lineout has started to function better as a result.
The signings of Michael Milne and Lee Barron have also added some heft to the pack, but the most crucial element has been the injury list which has eased up, giving Costello more and more players back on deck.
That good run of luck has now allowed Costello pick the same starting team for three games in a row. The last time Munster had previously named an unchanged team was in January 2018, a remarkable run of 188 games with at least one change in the side.
Craig Casey and Jack Crowley are playing some of their best rugby, while the return of Diarmuid Kilgallen and Thaakir Abrahams from injury has seen them gain real speed in the back three.
Defensively, there are still issues which were exposed by Benetton and Ulster in recent weeks, but after scrapping their way into the play-offs, they are a side that nobody will be comfortable facing, particularly with their unlikely run to the 2023 title still fresh in the memory.
One of the big results on that title run came at this afternoon's venue, Kings Park in Durban, where they fought back for a 22-22 draw against the Sharks in the final round of the regular season, a result which altered their play-off path, and denied the Sharks a place in the Champions Cup.
While they drew that afternoon, Kings Park remains the only South African ground Munster are yet to win at in the URC era.
If they can channel the emotional energy of recent weeks, they have an outside chance of completing that South African set this evening.
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