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13th December 2024
12:20pm GMT
It has been a rock 'n' roll year for Munster and Ireland scrum-half Craig Casey.
He has finally taken his province's jersey off Conor Murray while being consistently excellent on the international stage.
Last weekend he was involved in one of the biggest talking points in the Champions Cup after he was upended from an unconventional angle by Stade Francais lock Babtiste Pesenti - who subsequently received a two-week ban for his actions.
In describing the incident, Casey took it on the chin, given that he is well "used to" tussles with larger men.
He said:
"How tall was he? I was trying to get my hand to the ground but I couldn’t reach, so that’s how tall your man was. I was still about two feet off. I was like ‘What the f**k! How tall is he?’ And thankfully I got to the side.
"It was grand. That’s part of it, like, part of being the smallest player on the pitch. I’m used to it now."
During Ireland's summer tour to South Africa, Casey was handed the biggest start of his career in the first Test, and after being one of the standouts on the pitch, his tour was cruelly cut short after a counter ruck from his former Munster teammate, RG Snyman.
While he has previously lost consciousness on the pitch - during a schools game - being so far from home was particularly harrowing for his family, given that his grandfather had tragically died from a head knock during a charity game when he was just 40 years of age.
Casey added: "Look, it’s fine for me, I’m kinda of used to it. Obviously it’s part and parcel of rugby, you hope it doesn’t happen often.
"But for my family, I think it’s very difficult because my grandfather actually died on the rugby field. He was playing a charity game when he was 40, (he died) with a head knock.
"It’s very tough for my grandmother and my mother to watch on and see that, especially when you see how far away from home we were in South Africa.
"In Senior Cup (his only previous incident of losing consciousness on a rugby pitch), I was up and about after 20 seconds and I was fine.
"But when your mother is watching that from halfway across the globe, and you’re on oxygen and stuff like that after what has happened in her family, I’d say that’s fairly harrowing. But I was grand."
All was forgiven with Snyman, and for the Munster scrummie, the Springbok lock's move to Leinster was worse than any on-field hit.
Casey continued: "I don’t actually remember the changing room, to be honest. I don’t remember anything from probably about an hour and a half after the knockout.
"I thought I was pretty much knocked out for an hour, but it was actually only a few minutes. I have no recollection of anything in the changing room afterwards.
"I just about remember the Faf de Klerk photo, I don’t really remember that too much. I don’t know what crap I was chatting to him about!
"But RG did come into the changing room afterwards but I don’t remember seeing him.
"No, no, (no bad blood). It’s way worse that he’s gone up to Leinster!"
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