STADE FRANCAIS FURTHER cemented their place in the Top 14 playoffs over the weekend after a hard-fought 28-19 win away to their neighbours Racing Metro.

But what made their victory even more impressive was that they were without captain Sergio Parisse for an hour, after he was sent off by Jerome Garces for taking a man out in the air.

Racing fullback Brice Dulin certainly fell awkwardly but what could Parisse have really done to avoid that? He jumped for the ball honestly, it seemed, and Dulin jumped into him.

For whatever reason, these incidents seem to happen regularly when Garces has the whistle. He famously sent off Jared Payne early on in Ulster’s home quarter-final against Saracens in 2013, which completely changed the game.

The way the rules are at the moment, the refs have very little leeway with those kinds of incidents but it is still an interesting debate.

Was Parisse right to be shown red, or do you think it was overly harsh?

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