Depressingly the preposterous reaction came not from the ‘Sheddites’ of Kingsholm whose partisanship knows no bounds but from within the game itself and, in one case, from within the England dressing room.

“Another game ruined!” tweeted Saracens’ No.8 Billy Vunipola. “Unlucky for everyone who bought tickets.”

A strange attitude from a celebrated player to a law enforced to protect players the world over from the neurological effects of blows to the head.

The logic takes some understanding, that messing around with the match as a contest by sending someone off is somehow deemed more important than messing around with someone’s brain.

A referee’s job, first and foremost, is to enforce the laws of the game, not to facilitate a spectacle by turning a blind eye to all manner of mayhem simply to keep all 30 on the field. They did that at The Coliseum during Nero’s time in Ancient Rome.

Johann Ackerman, Gloucester’s South African head coach, tried to make the same point as Vunipola in defence of Cipriani. “If the supporters come and pay to watch 14 against 15, that’s a great way for rugby to go forward,” he said. “Do we want to see 14 against 15 all the time?”

Nobody can deny that Munster made their numerical advantage tell to devastating effect, converting a keen duel into a no-contest within the next half hour. Nor ought anyone deny that Cipriani’s shoulder into Scannell’s face left Ruiz no option but to bring the full force of the law down on top of him.

That created still more confusion and raised a question over how Munster’s CJ Stander avoided a frame-by-frame inspection of a suspiciously high hit of his own.

The argument that a red card results in defeat does not bear examination. French champions Castres played more than half their tie against Exeter without Maama Vaipulu after the Tongan No. 8 had gone high, and still defied the odds to win.

Former Welsh Lions centre Tom Shanklin, claimed Cipriani had been guilty of nothing more than “a rugby collision”. His contention that Scannell “runs into the shoulder of Cipriani” contradicts the video evidence which shows an English blow to an Irish head.

Another South African coach, Munster’s Johann van Graan, said there was “no intent” from Cipriani but intent is irrelevant. The referee sees a blow to the head and acts accordingly. He does not have time to forage through the crowd for a judge and jury and await a verdict on the defendant’s guilt or lack of it.

The warnings issued ad infinitum to coaches and players about ‘zero tolerance’ leave Cipriani without a leg to stand on. Instead of going in upright and risk being sent off, he had the option of going low as articulated by Sean Holley, the former PRO12-winning Ospreys coach: “Drop your knees, flex your hips, keep your chin off your chest, head to the side and tackle low.’’

Like the height of the tackle, the penny will drop, maybe later than sooner.