“It’s a dark day for rugby. To give a red card for that?”
Another Top 14 La Rochelle loss, and another frustrated post-match interview from head coach Ronan O’Gara.
His side were beaten 22-17 at the Stade Jean-Bouin in Paris, leaving them ninth in the table and in trouble of missing out on top-six play-off spot.
After the encounter, O’Gara was livid at the actions of Stade backrow Romain Briatte, and compared him to Brazilian footballer and notorious play-actor Neymar.
La Rochelle lock Will Skelton was shown a red card for a shoulder-to-head clearout, but the former Munster and Ireland out-half felt that play acting from Briatte influenced the referee’s decision.
He said: “There is a balance to be found between aggression, intelligence and cleaning up.
“In rugby, you have the right to clean up a ruck. Unfortunately, today, we are at the Parc des Princes and we saw Neymar.
“It’s a dark day for rugby. To give a red card for that? I’m not trying to protect Will because it’s not good, but a rugby player who does that, it’s quite an interesting gesture.”
The Parc des Princes is the home ground of Paris Saint-Germain, and it is directly beside the Stade Jean-Bouin.
