A wonderful, all-action try and another sublime individual display saw CJ Stander chosen as Man of the Match as Munster annihilated Racing 92 in Paris this evening.
The adopted Irishman has in a sense become the Wayne Rooney of rugby, minus the gross dip in form, in that he seems to be Sky Sports' and BT Sport's default choice for MOTM whenever there are a number of contenders. Today, however, it was the French broadcasters who chose Stander for the individual gong (so dominant were Munster, they were forced to renege from their usual rule of picking a player on the home French team).
There were, of course, numerous contenders on another monumental day for the southern province, two of whom joined Sky Sports for an interview after both sides has retreated to their changing rooms.
Fresh off a doubtless belting rendition of Stand Up And Fight, captain Peter O'Mahony explained what the victory meant to a Munster squad who, as a group, had never won such a significant fixture in France. Simon Zebo, who became the first Munster player in history to score 50 tries as he crossed the whitewash in Colombes, mentioned 'the man upstairs', to whom the victory was naturally dedicated.
He was then asked what he - or anybody - needed to do to overthrow CJ Stander's perpetual grip on the Man of the Match award, and replied simply:
I know, yeah, it seems to be it's him every week.
He has someone in the studio I think. [He's] tipping off or paying off.
When the Sky reporter tried to get too involved in the joke by making the classic 'brown envelope' wisecrack, Zebo was quick to pay tribute to the man who has made Anthony Foley's old jersey his own over the past two seasons, with consistently colossal displays.
It was one of the finest post-game interviews you'll see all season from Zebo and O'Mahony, who have been friends since they were boys and climbed the ranks at Munster together. It's difficult to believe that they're now two of the most senior figures in Munster's young squad.
Big Pete was never going to let Zebo away with pretending he doesn't count tries.
