Diminutive scrum-half Craig Casey produced an epic reaction to the tombstone-like tackle he received in Munster’s 33-7 win over Stade Francais in the Champions Cup.
The already physical clash last weekend transcended into a mess for the French side who ended the game with two red cards, one of which was for the tackle on Casey which was a splitting image of WWE legend the Undertaker’s tombstone move.
Baptiste Pesenti was the tackler on that occasion and copped a mere two-week ban for his actions which has been questioned by fans online who believe the act was worthy of greater punishment.
Epic response
Casey may not share the sentiment as he revealed his thoughts at the time of the tackle were about how tall his opponent was.
“How tall he was!” Casey exclaimed when asked. “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, it was grand… but that’s part of it, like, part of being the smallest player on the pitch. I’m used to it now.”
Casey had a more worrying moment on the field earlier this year when ex-Munster teammate RG Snyman ploughed him to the ground in a tackle that left him unconscious. Head injuries in the sport have a close relationship with the Casey family, with the scrum-half’s grandfather having passed away on the field in a charity game.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
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Leinster move was way worse
Casey admits he does not remember much from after that game against the Springboks and underlined that he has more hard feelings for Snyman’s move to Leinster than from the incident itself.
“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,” he revealed.
“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!”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/ireland-stars-hilarious-response-to-stade-francais-wwe-antics-after-horrific-tombstone-tackle-from-infamous-champions-cup-clash
