Following his player-of-the-match performance against the Lions to seal Munster's place in the top eight, Craig Casey was hoping they could turn the tables on the Bulls.
They had run Johan Ackermann's side close on their last visit to the Highveld, outscoring them by five tries to four with Tom Ahern crossing twice in a 34-31 defeat.
However, Munster were well beaten in Saturday's rematch, leaking four first-half tries to trail by 17 points, before being held scoreless after the break as the Bulls triumphed 45-14.
The result meant that the province bowed out at the quarter-final stage in South Africa for the second successive year, and without some talismanic figures on the field.
Captain Tadhg Beirne and out-half Jack Crowley both missed the game through injury, as did the Gloucester-bound Jean Kleyn, Michael Milne, Edwin Edogbo, Tom Farrell, Oli Jager, and Calvin Nash.
Casey, their stand-in skipper, denied that the lenthy injury list was a factor in the heavy loss, saying: "No, we're not going to use (the injuries) as an excuse. 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 is not an excuse from our side. The Bulls were just better on the day and that's it.
"It is very disappointing that our season ended here. I think the Bulls were top class today, we probably gave them lots of 'ins' in the first half and they capitalised massively on that."
Since returning from Ireland's Triple Crown-winning campaign, Casey started Munster's last seven matches and finished as their top try scorer this year with six.
He was fighting a losing battle at Loftus Versfeld, though, as the Bulls pack had the biggest say, earning four scrum penalties and winning the collisions to consistently get over the gainline.
Ruan Nortje and Elrigh Louw both reached double figures for carries and tackles made, while Casey's opposite number, Embrose Papier, ran in two tries as the player-of-the-match.
Despite an impressive spell during which Jack O'Donoghue and Alex Nankivell, Munster's most impactful player, both touched down, the visitors were unable to sustain it and were let down by a high error count.
"Look, 14-0 down I think we rallied fairly well to get ourselves back in the game, and our attack did cause them a few problems at times," admitted the Ireland scrum half.
"It was just our own unforced errors, to be honest. Don't want to take anything away from the Bulls, they capitalised fully on that.
"We worked hard for our scores, and they probably didn't work as hard for their scores.
"It's a different ball game going in at half-time knowing that you're going to have to chase the game, try a few things. Unfortunately those didn't stick, but that's rugby I suppose."
Clayton McMillan's men appeared to cope better with the powerful Bulls outfit and similar conditions at altitude when the teams met in Pretoria at the end of March.
This time there were frailties from early on, as Munster's scrum was driven backwards and defensive lapses allowed Papier and Kurt-Lee Arendse to score inside the opening eight minutes.
As Casey pointed out, they did bounce back encouragingly against last year's beaten finalists to make it 17-14, only for Johan Grobbelaar and Cameron Hanekom to both score off close-in lineouts.
The scoring was done and dusted by the hour mark, as a brilliant Papier breakaway effort was followed by Stravino Jacobs speeding over out wide, past Mike Haley's tackle close to the touchline.
Asked about playing at altitude and how they managed across the 80 minutes, Casey explained: "We came down here a few weeks ago, played at the exact same time, had the exact same prep.
"Probably had better prep this week, I would say. So, look, I think that would just be using it as an excuse.
"I think it's a class place to play. A tough place to play. It always is, no matter what time (of the day) it is.
"That's the beauty of coming down to South Africa and playing rugby down here, and that's what the URC gives us. But no excuses there, no."
Meanwhile, McMillan pointed to those two tries coughed up before half-time, in a costly period lasting just over three minutes, that gave the momentum right back to the Bulls.
Fit-again centre Nankivell had one of his best outings in the red jersey, grabbing a try and emerging as their leading ball carrier with a team-high 12 defenders beaten.
Nonetheless, his 32nd-minute score - from a quick pick-up from a ruck just to the left of the posts - was swiftly cancelled out by Grobbelaar as the home side flexed their muscles again.
Munster did start the second half with some bright moments, buoyed by strong running from Andrew Smith and Nankivell, and an excellent Haley 50:22 kick, yet they could not get the scoreboard moving.
"The Bulls got up to 14-0, you know, within the space of about 10 minutes. Really proud of the way that we stuck in the fight and worked our way back," said McMillan afterwards.
"But we had to work extremely hard for those 14 points, and that 10 minutes before half-time, we gave away two relatively soft tries in my opinion, without taking anything away from the Bulls.
"Those are the moments in the games that can swing big games, finals, in your favour.
"We still weren't out of the game, even in the first 10 minutes of the second half we created enough opportunity. If we got to 31-21, that's a very different game.
"The psyche of both teams changes, you feel, with that. You're in striking distance and the opposition know that you're there, and so they play the game a bit differently.
"But we didn't take those opportunities, and they were good enough to punish us for them."