Munster kicked off their European campaign with a 33-7 win over Stade Francais in Thomond Park last Saturday, kickstarting their first European campaign since Graham Rowntree's departure with a bonus point win.
It was a masterclass from a Munster team dogged with a determination we've not seen in many years, heading in at the break fourteen points to the better and dotting over three more times to bring their total tally to five trys.
However, despite Munster delivering a Peter O'Mahony-led classic performance synonymous with European nights in Thomond Park, the real talking point in the clash came when the already-struggling Stade Francais side saw two of their players red-carded within five minutes of each other for utterly reckless challenges.
The first of which saw lock Pierre Azagoh given his marching orders for a wreckless swinging arm that caught Peter O'Mahony around the head.
Moments later the Parisian side's other lock Baptise Pesenti, was sent off for attempting a 'WWE' style piledriver on Craig Casey just moments after his colleague had seen red.
Pesenti picked Casey up around his waist flipping his far beyond to horizontal to the point where Casey's legs were seeing sky blue and his head green grass, before charging him back into the ground. Fortunately for Casey, Peter O'Mahony was on hand to ensure it wasn't his head that felt the brunt of the impact.
Like something out of the WWE 😬
Baptiste Pesenti was sent off for this highly dangerous tackle on Craig Casey 😱#InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/4dVsa4mwgq— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) December 7, 2024
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Surprisingly low ban for Stade Francais' red-carded locks
Both locks have now received their suspension, with the attempted piledriver on Craig Casey earning a lesser suspension than that of Pierre Azagoh's hit on O'Mahony.
Azagoh was handed down a three-week suspension for his flying arm on O'Mahony, with the lock admitting he committed an offence warranting a red card to an independent disciplinary committee on Tuesday.
The ban originally stood at six weeks, however, a statement from the disciplinary committee revealed that mitigation reduced it to three.
Azagoh accepted that he had committed an offence that warranted a red card and the Disciplinary Committee selected 6 weeks as the appropriate entry point. No aggravating factors were present, and on the basis of the mitigation submitted on the player’s behalf, a three-week discount was applied to the entry point of 6 weeks. The player was therefore suspended for three weeks.
Azagoh will also receive the opportunity to attend tackle school and earn a further one-week reduction on the ban, meaning if he attends he will only serve a two-week suspension.
While there was likely some thought given to the fact that Peter O'Mahony was falling in the decision to suspend Azagoh, there was no mitigation for Baptiste Pesenti and his attempted piledriver on Craig Casey.
Yet, despite the lack of mitigation and abundant danger Casey was placed in, an independent disciplinary committee only suspended Pesenti for two weeks.
Justifying their decision, the committee said:
The committee determined that Pesenti had tackled Casey in a dangerous and reckless manner that warranted a red card.
It was decided that the offending was at the low-end of World Rugby’s sanctions and two weeks was selected as the appropriate entry point. The Disciplinary Committee did not consider that any aggravating factors were present, but did not feel that any discount from the entry point sanction of 2 weeks could be applied due to the player’s prior disciplinary record. The player was therefore suspended for two weeks.
While Casey may have walked away from the incident uninjured and with his humour in check, much of that was thanks to the fact that Peter O'Mahony had collapsed the potentially dangerous tackle before it was complete.
After many expected a big ban for Pesenti, he'll be feeling very fortunate to be back available to his club by the end before Christmas.
