A fourth-minute red card is not only paid for on match day. Bayonne conceded seventy points, and are now without their full-back for three games.

Four minutes, then seventy-six with fourteen men

The incident dates back to Round 2. In the fourth minute of the game between Section Paloise and Aviron Bayonnais, Yohan Orabé was sent off for foul play on Théo Attissogbe, who landed heavily after contesting a high ball.

Bayonne played the remaining seventy-six minutes with fourteen men and lost 70-28. Théo Attissogbe stayed on the pitch and scored twice, in the 16th and 58th minutes.

The disciplinary committee handed down a three-week ban.

Twenty-eight points scored with fourteen men

The score does not tell the whole story. Down to fourteen for most of the game, Bayonne still scored four tries, through Madosha Tambwe in the 14th minute, Tom Spring in the 46th, Baptiste Tilloles in the 70th and Guillaume Martocq in the 79th.

Pau, for their part, scored ten, with braces for Théo Attissogbe, Rodrigo Marta and Hugo Auradou.

Three reds in two rounds

The championship has started at a high disciplinary tempo. Over the first two rounds, three red cards have been shown, to Union Bordeaux-Bègles, Bayonne and La Rochelle, along with twenty-two yellow cards.

Montpellier are the most penalised club with five yellows in two games, three of them in the Vannes match alone. Pau follow with three, then Racing 92, Castres, Perpignan and Vannes with two each.

Five clubs have picked up just one card: Stade Toulousain, Clermont, Stade Français, Lyon and, despite their red, Bayonne.

What the ban costs

A three-week ban rules the full-back out of Bayonne’s home game against Clermont and the following two rounds. On the other hand, the club get Tuilagi back from a shoulder injury and Carreras from a knee problem, and both are expected to start on Saturday.