Premiership hooker destroys everything we ever thought we knew about rugby
Northampton Saints’ usual goal kickers face the humiliating prospect of being usurped by one of their teammates for long range kicks at goal. That does not sound so bad, until we find out that is by hooker Sam Matavesi.
That is after his recent exploits in World Rugby’s ‘Ultimate Rugby Challenge’. It all started with the Fiji hooker attempting to beat World Cup winning Springbok Bismarck du Plessis for the longest throw in rugby. Matavesi failed to beat du Plessis’ 40 metres, which is unsurprising given the size of the Bulls hooker’s arms.
Then in a strange twist Matavesi also attempted to beat Tiaan Swanepoel’s record 70 metre kick. He did not. However, he got far closer than many would expect from a hooker, managing to land a kick from 50 metres out. That is out of the range of plenty world class kickers. For example, it is not very often, if at all, that Owen Farrell even attempts a 50 metre kick, let alone lands one.
This opens the door for a very unique situation where Matavesi could actually be called upon to take a long range kick for the Saints. That is probably unlikely as it took him three attempts to get the ball over, meaning he does not have a great success rate. But like most forwards, if he gets his 100kg frame through the ball, it is going to sail.
Take a look at his kick:
