TV VIEW:IT WAS one of those magical moments on television that could not have been produced to order, or choreographed, or planned, or scripted .

Not even Sky Sports, whose natural inclination is to inflate, hype and supersize could have manufactured a sequence that was, in the end, so compelling.

Not even Sky could have known what was to take place in Thomond Park, the stadium where just about everything vital in the game of Irish rugby appears to happen.

It was one of those episodes in which Munster seem to specialise and it made the watching of three live matches in succession over six hours of Heineken Cup rugby strangely energising and rewarding.

How often can you say that about watching television?

Quite a marathon session of being a couch potato but the first week of European rugby tends to be the pilot episode in a series that could and has run for Irish teams right through to May of next year.

After the credits had rolled, after all of the incidents from Jonathan Sexton’s levelling kick for Leinster against Montpellier to Ian Humphreys’ try against Clermont in Ravenhill, the only sequence that stays firmly embedded is the 41 phases of rugby that took Munster rolling up the park inch by inch, often going backwards but always, always punching back despite knowing that the first mistake

in injury time would end the match and see Northampton Saints leave Limerick with a gem of a win.

What made it all the more fraught was that it was a one-shot deal. Any spillage or knock-on or wrong body position would be a terminal error.

Referee Nigel Owen, poised with his whistle at each and every collision of bodies, knew what was happening too. This was a car crusher having to go about its business with the light touch of a precision tool.

How Munster did that without erring took a good match into the realms of majestic and one that left Thomond Park ringing.

And if Thomond is the stage that often brings great sporting moments to our living rooms, Ronan O’Gara is blessed with the ability to deliver the final line without fluffing it. O’Gara has become an inveterate scene stealer.

“He’s done it to win a Grand Slam. He’s done it for Munster for 12 or 13 years. He’s just one of the most outstanding outhalves in the game,” said a breathless former England centre and Sky pundit, Will Greenwood.

And what was it all about? Munster are losing and the clock is against them. On 78 minutes scrumhalf Tomás O’Leary takes the ball from a set piece and moves forward. That triggers the collective.

Without a word or gesture Munster knows there is one play left in the game.

Once the ball goes dead, or Northampton take possession the game is over.

On 79 minutes, 30 seconds flanker Peter O’Mahony fumbles but catches and holds and hits the Saints’ body wall. Bang, play goes on.

On 80 minutes, 40 seconds centre Will Chambers knifes up the right and looks dangerously isolated from his piano lifters. But the bodies get there and pour in. Back goes the ball.

The recycles start to build and it becomes a matter of which team blinks first.

On the 31st recycle O’Leary looks to have perished under the knot of Northampton limbs. Again the ball is dragged, pulled and pushed back on to the Munster side.

On 83 minutes, 12 seconds Lifeimi Mafi is driven back almost off his feet. The quick centre is swatted by the bigger units and in danger of being turned. Northampton try to knock the ball free.

They’ll do anything but concede a penalty to kill play and walk away from Thomond with a priceless scalp. But Mafi holds.

Munster go up the pitch, are driven backwards 10 metres. They probe the right flank and the left flank. They give the ball to their big men and their small men. Everyone is scrumhalf, ball carrier, support runner and everyone cleans out rucks.

Intense and nerveless, the phase lasts from the 78th minute until into the 83rd minute when the ball is finally engineered into the exact field position that Munster need.

O’Gara drops into the pocket and boom.

The 40th phase of attacking with the ball becomes the 41st and O’Gara, having diligently kept away from much of the grunt, lets go with the sweetest of dropkicks.

Intense, epic, edgy drama representing everything about Munster’s character and philosophy and all over approximately five live minutes.

Northampton ended on their knees in disbelief, O’Gara punching the air. Close up of the outhalf smiling.

Close up of a cheering mammy in a Munster hat.

Roll credits.