Tongan-born hooker Tolu Latu was shown a second yellow card in Stade Fracnais' match against Connacht for swearing towards referee Wayne Barnes.
The Wallaby had already received a yellow card for a dangerous clear-out which ruled out a score for the home side.
Wayne Barnes explaining his actions against Tolu Latu.
“He’s said f*cking hell”. “He’s then looked at me and said, I got the f*cking ball.”
⚠️ #SFPvCON#HeinekenChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/sZ6OzMlh1Z— Saffas Abroad Rugby (@SaffasRugby) January 23, 2022
Barnes could be heard over the referee's mic stating that Latu had looked up from the penalty, "looked straight at me and shouted, 'f**king hell!'
"He then looked at me and said, "I got the f***ing ball!''" Barnes told Stade captain Tala Gray on the pitch.
23 January 2022; Alex Wootton of Connacht is tackled by Ngani Laumape of Stade Francais Paris on his way to scoring his side's first try during the Heineken Champions Cup Pool A match between Stade Francais Paris and Connacht at Stade Jean Bouin in Paris, France. Photo by Seb Daly/SportsfileConnacht were leading by just two points at the time, as All Black centre Ngani Laumape had just gotten a cross-field score for Stade to draw closer to the visitors.
However, almost immediately after the hooker was shown the red card, Tom Farrell crossed over the line to take Connacht back out to a nine-point lead.
You know you're in trouble when you see a wall of green shrits running towards you 😳@connachtrugby work the ball across the line excellently once again, Conor Oliver and Jarrad Butler have a little one-two and make it look oh so easy 😌#HeinekenChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/eMHMTxNsUB
— Rugby on BT Sport (@btsportrugby) January 23, 2022
From there, Connacht turned on the magic and opened up the game, exploiting the space cerated by having the extra man.
Jarrad Butler scored under the posts to take Connacht out even further in the second half. With just over 15 minutes left to play, the visitors lead by 31 points to 20.
Connacht had already qualified for the Round of 16 in the Champions Cup prior to kickoff, due to the cancellations caused by COVID-19 ahead of the weekend.
However, with an extra man on the field, they looked to punish their French hosts with a big win.
It was not to be, however, as Connacht's Connor Oliver was shown yellow a few minutes later to level the playing field, and Stade Francais were spurred on.
They scored two late, unanswered tries through Adrien Lapegue and Joris Segonds in the final ten minutes, with the final score coming right on full time, to win the match 37-31.
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