Sin bin lesson can fire Luke McGrath

Jonathan Sexton couldn’t resist. Confined to the stands for the afternoon last Saturday with a bad hammy, he was joined for a 10-minute spell by Luke McGrath after the scrum-half had illegally dragged down a maul and got himself sent to the bold step.

McGrath’s punishment wasn’t confined to a yellow card, or even the penalty try awarded to Castres. Isa Nacewa put the tin hat on it by stepping in to firefight at nine and stealing a poacher’s try off the base of a ruck while he was at it.

“I knew someone was going to mention that,” McGrath laughed. “Isa comes in and scores a try; typical him really. He’s obviously a world-class player. Johnny said it to me while I was in the sin bin: ‘You might as well stay there’.