Munster kickstarted their 2024/25 European campaign with an emphatic win over Parisian side Stade Francais on Saturday, running away as 33-7 bonus point winners.
It was a five-try masterclass from Munster who headed in at the break 14 points to the good after both Thaakir Abrahams and Shane Daly touched down in Thomond Park.
While Alex Kendellen, Gavin Coombes and Tom Farrell all crossed the whitewash in the second half to secure Munster's win, the talking point of the second half lay in the two red cards Stade Francais received.
The first of which came just after the break when Munster were just two tries ahead of their opponents. It was second-row Pierre Azagoh who received his marching orders after he caught Peter O'Mahony in the head with a flying arm in a moment of utter madness.
As so often happens with French sides, one moment of madness was quickly followed by another as Baptise Pesenti became the second Stade Francais player to be sent off within five minutes.
The French lock was punished for attempting a 'WWE' style piledriver on Munster scrumhalf Craig Casey that saw him turned upside down and driven back into the ground.
Craig Casey responds to red-card tackle with cheeky message
While well executed the piledriver could've led to a serious injury for the Munster scrumhalf, Craig Casey clearly saw the funny side of the incident.
The Munster scrumhalf took to Instagram to share quite an array of images, comparing the tackle on him to a WWE move.
The pictures were accompanied by a cheeky pun about being 'head over heels' to be back in Thomond Park and maintaining his status as the 'WWE Champ'.
Head over heels to be back with Munster Rugby in Thomond again last night. Special European nights.
Still the WWE Champ though.
While Craig Casey may have seen the funny side of Saturday's antics, speaking after the game Bernard Jackman expected the Stade Francais man to receive a big ban for his attempt on the Munster and Ireland scrumhalf.
Tackles like that of Pesenti's on Casey are a rarity in today's game, with World Rugby making a significant effort over the last decade to rid the game of them due to the danger they can pose to players whose heads are driven into the ground.
Fortunately for Casey, he came out of the tackle without any serious injury after avoiding a landing on his head.
SEE ALSO: Ref Mic Picks Up Pearce's Frustrated Message To Munster Skipper Barron
