Startling weekend shows players and coaches can't or won't change their ways

“I’d ask those in charge of the sport if we are serious about player safety. Let’s not talk about is that a red card or isn’t it."

Those were the words of Dragons director of rugby Dean Ryan after Jonathan Davies escaped a red card for a high tackle on Josh Lewis during their win over the Scarlets in Llanelli.

“If we ask that that question often enough then maybe they might change some of the answers. I am just not convinced that people are serious about dealing with head injuries, certainly not against the Dragons.”

Ignoring that last little part of the sentence concerning a prejudice against the Rodney Parade side, there's a point to be made in player safety and what exactly is being done by all parties.

Davies escaped a red this weekend, but many others didn't. There were five handed out across the eight Champions Cup ties for high tackles - a stunning figure however you look at it.

In fact, there were 20 cards in total shown across the eight matches.

Since Opta began tracking card data in 2009, only on one other occasion have twenty cards been shown in a European weekend. That was in 2012/13 and there were 12 games that weekend, not eight.

Sale's Arron Reed, Bordeaux’s Maama Vaipulu, Leicester's Ollie Chessum, Ulster's Tom O’Toole and Stade Francais' Sefa Naivalu were the five who were sent off for high hits.

Last weekend saw reds for two very different incidents. Axel Müller's sending off for Brive was as clear cut as it gets - a cheap, nasty high shot that was pretty sickening to watch.

At the other end of the scale, Leicester's Guy Porter saw red for what, on some glances, looked like an accidental clash of heads. The carelessness with which Porter ran into Fritz Lee off the ball certainly amounted to his ban