In his pre-match television interview, Stade Francais head coach Paul Gustard described how “four minutes of craziness” had cost his team dearly away to Munster last weekend – with two players sent off in quick succession early in the second half of a 33-7 defeat.
Watching on from the sidelines as his team attempted to bounce back from that gruelling experience, Gustard could have been forgiven for thinking: “Oh no, not again.”
For 20 minutes, his team followed the gameplan more or less to perfection. Henry kicked to gain ground when the opportunity was there, the hosts turned up the pressure, and Saracens looked uncomfortable.
And then Macalou lost his head, and everything changed.
The flanker’s trip on Van Zyl as he came out of the scrum would have earned him a visit to the sin-bin anyway. Following it up by throwing his arm into the tumbling scrum-half’s face was inexplicable. Referee Davidson consulted television match official Mike Adamson before passing sentence, but the evidence was overwhelming.
There was more indiscipline to come. A high tackle by flanker Ryan Chapuis on Burke had George shouting to Davidson: “That’s just as bad.”
A penalty was sufficient punishment there, but Stade Francais might well have seen another red four minutes into the second half, when lock Halaifonua committed a high tackle, his shoulder going into the head of Segun.
In consultation with Adamson, referee Davidson ruled a sudden step by Segun was enough to downgrade the offence from red to yellow – sending Halaifonua to the sin-bin. Late on, N’Diaye was also shown yellow after Stade Francais had collapsed one scrum too many.
The misbehaviour was not entirely restricted to the hosts, though – Saracens prop Rhys Carre couldn’t, and didn’t, complain about his sin-binning, as a hand-off on Lucas Peyresblanques became an elbow to the neck. And the visitors later received a warning from Davidson for the rising penalty count against them.
Carre’s exit gave the hosts a brief spell at playing 14 against 14 once Halaifonua returned – although Saracens were back to full numbers by the time Barre scored, and had a two-man advantage when Dan went over.
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