"The more you watch it, the less convinced you are it's a try."
Munster looked toast. With one drop of his shoulder and lunge for the line, Manie Libbok did for three of Peter O'Mahony's teammates.
Stormers were 12-0 ahead and pounding on the Munster tryline. A third try looked inevitable when, on 24 minutes, the Stormers outhalf ducked back inside and stretched for the tryline.
Joey Carbery and Rory Scannell were taken out by his swift feet. Niall Scannell made a desperate lunge. It didn't seem to be enough. The try was awarded, on the field, and the simple conversion that was to follow would have made it 19-0 to the South Africans.
Watching it live, it looked a try. The first and second replays appeared to back it up. Another angle, from behind the Munster posts, showed a different story - Peter O'Mahony to the rescue again.
The Munster captain had stooped and got his arms under to prevent Libbok from dotting down. Not only that, the Stormers 10 had lost control of the ball:
https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/1444737767066542085
Munster had looked terribly out of sorts for the opening 30 minutes at Thomond Park, on Saturday,
but you sensed they could not go sleep-walking all night.
Sure enough, they rallied late in the half to register a Jack O'Donoghue score. O'Mahony played a big role there, too, with a clean lineout take before a rolling maul made in-roads. When Joey Carbery converted, what could have been a 19-0 deficit was just 15-7.
In the second half, Munster took over as the Stormers wilted and lost their discipline. Four more Munster tries followed and they won out 34-18 to maintain their winning start to the United Rugby Championship.
While Craig Casey and Gavin Coombes have taken home the first two Man of the Match medals of Munster's season, the man that presented it to them - after wins over the Sharks and Stormers - has not been far behind. In his 12th senior season with Munster now, O'Mahony continues to set the tempo. When he is out making trouble for folks, Munster are in a much better place.
https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/1444009467943686144
You may not have sensed it from their opening 30 minutes, but this Munster side are in a really strong position to push for silverware this season. Coombes and Casey are looking great, Rory Scannell is revelling in his early outings, Jean Kleyn and RG Snyman are showing signs of menace and we've only had 80 + 10 minutes from Simon Zebo but you know he'll bag lots of tries.
Elsewhere, Mike Haley is looking assured, Jack O'Donoghue has a big season ahead of him and you have the likes of Conor Murray, Tadhg Beirne and Damien De Allende [after a wee rest] to come back.
There are bigger tests ahead, we all know, but Munster are capable of making an early statement by going five from five [they have Scarlets, Connacht and Ospreys next]. With O'Mahony leading the way, they will be desperate to live up to the potential you sense from just going through their ranks.
