Munster suffered their first defeat of the season in Scotland on Friday night as Glasgow Warriors ran out 37-10 winners at Scotstoun Stadium.
The hosts got off to a flyer and were 10-0 up inside 10 minutes before Rory Scannell got the visitors back into it with a try five minutes later to make it perfectly clear that this was going to be a fiercely competitive game if that wasn't already obvious from the physicality early on.
There were a few occasions where tensions threatened to boil over after the whistle, and as a result referee Nigel Owens produced something very unusual to make it very clear that the additional aggression would not be tolerated.
The Welshman called all 30 players in for a lecture where he let them know that what he had seen so far needed to stop or he was going to send someone off.
Níl ach 'Boss' amháin ann anocht @Munsterrugby #pro14 #TG4 pic.twitter.com/ZpHJAcF0PP
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) September 22, 2017
That is totally unacceptable, is that clear? If I have to deal with any issues like this again, people are going to be not playing 80 minutes in this game, or whatever minutes are left. Is that clear?
Now get on and play rugby. I'm going to go back for the penalty for a no-arms tackle, and it is just a penalty. This is the last warning to you all.
Vintage Nigel. Few coaches command the respect he does from the players, let alone referees.
Unfortunately, this talk did little to keep 30 men on the pitch for the entirety of the game as Munster's Fineen Wycherley was shown a red card for a shoulder charge late in the game.
