-Credit: (Image: Premier Sports)
Stade Francais suffered two red cards in four minutes as one of their players was dismissed for a ‘WWE-style’ tackle, while another appeared to clothes-line Peter O’Mahony.
Towering lock Baptiste Pesenti picked up Munster scrum-half Craig Casey, who is an entire foot shorter than him, and turned him upside down before driving him to the ground. He wasn’t driven onto his head but it was still highly dangerous offence that warranted the full punishment.
There was an instant reaction from the crowd at Thomond Park, as Munster players threw their arms into the air upon seeing the act unfold. It was described by broadcaster Premier Sports as a WWE-style move.
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Referee Luke Pearce made it clear what he thought of the tackle after watching the replays.
“That’s really dangerous,” explained Pearce. “You can’t flip a guy over on his head like that. That’s a red card, isn’t it?”
The decision to brandish red has been controversial with fans on social media.
“Am I the only one that thinks this is just a penalty. He was literally put down perfectly with no chance of injury? Only a penalty because he was initially lifted above the horizontal,” commented one.
“What’s the issue?? Brought down safely, no head contact, and released on landing. Penalty only (maybe a yellow if your looking to calm the sides down). Game’s gone bloody soft,” said another.
For Stade Francais, it only made matters worse, due to the fact they had been given a red card just four minutes prior to that.
In an arguably more cynical moment, Pierre-Henri Azagoh completely clothes-lined Ireland legend O’Mahony, smashing his bicep into the flanker’s head.
A delay in play was caused after this offence, with O’Mahony getting stuck into the offender as both sets of players piled in.
You can watch both moments below.
Munster went on to win the match convincingly, with a 33-7 victory at home.