‘This is a very bizarre moment in rugby laws’- Loophole creates weirdest minute ever
The Dubai Sevens today produced one of the strangest stand-offs ever on a rugby pitch as last week’s champions South Africa played Japan.
In the second leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, the Blitzbokke’s Selvyn Davids took the ball into contact, but was held up by four Japanese tacklers who tried to wrestle the ball from him. What ensued was over a minute of bizarre wrestling in the middle of the pitch that the referee was unable to stop.
Take a look:
You’ve *never* seen this before in Sevens. Trust us#HSBC7s | #Dubai7s pic.twitter.com/gz8DcCCWTc
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) December 3, 2021
This is a strange loophole in the law that South Africa exploited. As Davids did not got to ground, the tackle was not complete, but as no South African player joined in, the maul was not created either. Instead, a professional rugby match looked more like a group of children wrestling for the ball for over a minute. In the game of sevens, that a very long time; the equivalent of six minutes in the 15-man format.
As South Africa were already leading at this point 5-0 and were the firm favourites, this was effectively a chance to give their players a break, of course except for Davids. The 27- year-old must be commended for his strength in being able to stave off this Japanese onslaught and for eventually getting the ball away for his side to score. South Africa went on to win the contest 48-0.
South Africa 7s
Zain Davids
Impi Visser
JC Pretorius
Branco du Preez
Siviwe Soyizwapi
Selvyn Davids
Shilton van Wyk
Substitutes
Ryan Oosthuizen
Christie Grobbelaar
Ronald Brown
Shaun Williams
Tiaan Pretorius
Japan 7s
Kameli Raravou Latianara Soejima
Shotaro Tsuoka
Aseri Masivou
Ryota Kano
Tomoya Yamamura
Moeki Fukushi
Taiga Ishida
Substitutes
Taisei Hayashi
Tumanawa Tawhai
Jonathan Faauli
Shoga Tokota
Shun Tomonaga
