Devastating finishing in the final 10 minutes sent Racing 92 into the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals as the Parisians finally broke Munster’s brave resistance and left their hopes of progressing to the knockout rounds hanging by a slender thread.

Michael Cheika picked a fight with the World Cup organisers yesterday over their banning of Reece Hodge, adamant that Australia had been singled out for special treatment.

For weeks on end, a veritable posse of law enforcers queued up to hammer the warning home, that dangerous tackles meant instant dismissal.

Munster took this game by the scruff of the neck from the first whistle of a ferocious encounter, the home side getting their reward with an early penalty from Ian Keatley and hammering home their dominance with first-half tries for Rhys Marshall and Simon Zebo that put the Reds firmly in control.

Ireland U-18 6 Wales U-18 25