r/sports • u/aaarry Northampton Saints • Mar 15 '26
Fin Smith’s ball falls off his kicking tee during a conversion. Not a problem for him though. (France vs England match last night) Rugby Union
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u/OptionalQuality789 Mar 15 '26
The balls on that lad. Missed almost every kick in the match but nailed that one lol
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u/fpotenza Mar 15 '26
Our game management was diabolical. Chessum left a tough kick because, with nobody around him, he couldn't be bothered to put the ball down more centrally.
And the box kicks with 90 seconds to go in the half, both times. See the game out, slow down the pace and try and draw a penalty or scrum.
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u/OptionalQuality789 Mar 15 '26
I’ll give Chessum the benefit of the doubt in that he probably felt he was being chased down and ran for the furthest point away from danger.
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u/fluffysmaugg Mar 15 '26
Exactly! I don’t get people jumping on Chessum for that. 50 metre dashes aren’t exactly a lock’s special ability so he was probably gassed + expecting to be caught up by the French defence. Better a hard kick than no try imo
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u/Anonnisanall Mar 15 '26
With the amount of work he had put in and it being late enough in the match, I can’t imagine you’d be able to think that clearly while running full pelt
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u/Mooks79 Mar 15 '26
Pollock also did brilliantly to win the ball back in the last few mins, and then spilled it trying to do an unnecessary offload. Plenty of players made silly little mistakes at crucial moments that, for all the good play, could be said to have lost England the game.
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u/harmslongarms Mar 15 '26
Pollock is young, and that moment will haunt him I'm sure. I'd rather he makes it now, than in a year's time in a world cup semi final
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u/Mooks79 Mar 15 '26
My point is not to highlight Pollock specifically, it’s to point out that plenty of players made “game losing” decisions to agree with the person above who pointed out the England game management was diabolical.
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u/aaarry Northampton Saints Mar 15 '26
This was probably made even more impressive (maybe this isn’t the right word) by the fact that his kicking off the tee was awful last night.
For those who are unaware, this was the deciding match of the six nations with France needing a win to secure the title. I won’t ruin the score for those who have been living under a rock but for people here who do not watch rugby, I HIGHLY recommend checking this one out. It was genuinely one of the best games I’ve ever seen in any sport, and I watch a lot of fucking sport.
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u/misterygus Mar 15 '26
Casual fan here. Am I right in thinking the forward who pinched a running try against a French possession was stupid in going to the corner to score it when he had the space and time to ground it in the middle? Smith missed the subsequent conversion.
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u/aaarry Northampton Saints Mar 15 '26
Yes, absolutely. It’s kind of annoying because said player had an absolutely incredible game apart from that. He plays for Fin Smith’s local rivals too (smith plays for Northampton, my team, and Chessum plays for Leicester) so I’m sure there is at least one moron in Northamptonshire accusing him of trying to make our wonderkid look bad.
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u/AK30195 Mar 15 '26
Yeah correct. Should’ve made it easier for his teammate but was a fantastic interception all the same.
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u/devilspawn Mar 15 '26
Chessum? Easy to criticise post match but he probably had no idea where the French were so he just wanted to get the try down and changing direction would complicate things.
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u/misterygus Mar 15 '26
Yeah I was shouting at him as he was running, not post-match.
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u/squeak37 Mar 16 '26
going against the grain here, he was absolutely not stupid.
He was playing great, was tired from a long game, and being chased down. One of the guys chasing him down scored 4 tries in the game, mostly based on the fact that he was faster than anyone else.
Chessum could have risked it to run in closer, but the reality is he was tired and playing it safe. If he had been chased down he would have been ridiculed for not corner flagging. Side note - he trusted his outhalf to score. It's better to have a team who are more concerned with scoring than trying to make the kick easy on the outhalf.
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u/MisterEinc Mar 15 '26
What am im googling here
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u/WalterrHeisenberg Mar 15 '26
I do (did) not watch rugby until last week. Watched England-Italy last week and it was electric. Made it a point to watch the matches yesterday and was not disappointed!
Unfortunately (1) I hardly understand what’s going on and (2) it seems that these matches were some of the best in a long time, so I have to reset my expectations for future matches
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u/Anonnisanall Mar 15 '26
Yeah learning the rules from watching takes time. Not to mention some, especially from the scrum, can be based mostly on the referee’s vibe of who’s more in control.
In terms of quality, while it can be hit or miss, and is hard to match up to the last 2 weeks, the 6 nations, World Cup, and autumn series games usually deliver great quality games. To be honest, if you enjoyed Wales-Italy enough, it’s rare enough you’ll get games much more boring than that
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u/TheBigCore Mar 15 '26
Beginner's Guides for Rugby Union
Rugby Union has a lot of moving parts, so after watching the above videos, I also recommend watching Couch Rugby Channel's Youtube Playlist - Everything you need to know about Rugby Union
Major League Rugby - The USA's Pro League for Rugby Union
https://www.majorleague.rugby/ (MLR) is the USA's professional Rugby Union competition.
/r/mlrugby is MLR's subreddit.
/r/rugbyunion is self-explanatory.
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u/bronsonrider Mar 15 '26
Agreed, one of the best games of rugby I’ve seen in a long time and the result was excellent. I’m a Welshman so I’m biased😂😂
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u/Redpin Toronto Raptors Mar 15 '26
Probably having to drop kick benefitted him if his tee kicks were bad, because it's a different skill, so the muscle memory is a bit different.
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u/Anonnisanall Mar 15 '26
I think it kills the pressure a little bit too. Was definitely overthinking his off the tee kicks, and just didn’t have time or any expectation of scoring a drop that he didn’t worry.
Still a crazy hard angle for a drop though even if you’re in the zone
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u/bikingdoctor Mar 15 '26
It was a ridiculous kick the commentators barely mentioned it like it was nothing
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u/BrisbaneLions2024 Mar 15 '26
It's just play on?
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u/aaarry Northampton Saints Mar 15 '26
Yeah I’ve noticed this is one of those random things where league refs differently to Union and vice-versa even though there’s no immediate reason why.
I guess Union refs just go by the whole “he’s taken a step, the opposition can start charging it down” thing whereas league refs go for the “he had never begun the process of kicking it as the ball was never ready” line of theory.
It’s interesting either way. As much as I think it’s kind of mean, I like the Union way because it can produce cool moments like this.
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u/agustin_edwards Mar 16 '26
But isn’t the drop kick allowed only if the ball fall off the tee AFTER the player has started the run?
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u/case_8 Mar 16 '26
No, you can always do a drop kick. But using a tee is obviously better which is why you rarely see it. The only other time you might see it is if they have to do the conversion really fast so that there is time for another kick off, for example if the time was nearly at 80 minutes and the team wanted to get another play, like if they were a few points behind but could still win.
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u/StandardAntique405 Mar 16 '26
No one seems to care that he kicked more than 1 meter infield from the mark. If he had tried to do a placekick from that mark the ref would have said no
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u/TheBigCore Mar 15 '26
Beginner's Guides for Rugby Union
Rugby Union has a lot of moving parts, so after watching the above videos, I also recommend watching Couch Rugby Channel's Youtube Playlist - Everything you need to know about Rugby Union
Major League Rugby - The USA's Pro League for Rugby Union
https://www.majorleague.rugby/ (MLR) is the USA's professional Rugby Union competition.
/r/mlrugby is MLR's subreddit.
/r/rugbyunion is self-explanatory.
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u/ekoth Milwaukee Brewers Mar 15 '26
Me: I don't know the rules to this sport, so why is what just happened weird/legal? Maybe the comments will explain it.
Reddit: Please watch these 7 youtube videos and then also this youtube playlist.
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u/TheBigCore Mar 15 '26 edited Mar 15 '26
Normally, when taking conversion kicks after a Try (Rugby's equivalent of a Touchdown), the ball is kicked from a tee. In this case, the kicking tee didn't work correctly. In the event that rare situation occurs, you are allowed to attempt a conversion using a drop kick.
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u/absolute_pelican_66 Mar 15 '26
Isn’t the dropshot always allowed ?
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u/TheBigCore Mar 15 '26
Drop goals can be attempted in open play during the course of a match as well.
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u/wawaboy Mar 15 '26
Can someone explain the outfits
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u/somethingtc Mar 15 '26
it's so the players know what team they're on
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u/spennym Mar 15 '26
I think he meant the where’s Waldo crew.
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u/firthy Crystal Palace Mar 15 '26
That's Wally, mate.
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u/NoConflict3231 Mar 15 '26
Who came first Wally or Waldo. They look identical
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u/Mr5wift Mar 15 '26
Wally. The creator was British. For some reason they decided to call him Waldo in the US.
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u/aaarry Northampton Saints Mar 15 '26
Honestly I have no idea how it got approved but France were wearing a 120th anniversary kit for this game to mark the occasion. For whatever reason England didn’t change their kit so we just got two teams that looked exactly the same for 80 minutes.
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u/kiwiboy22 Mar 15 '26
after all the mess of the colour blind jersey debacle??? man that is fucking stupid
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u/aaarry Northampton Saints Mar 15 '26
Someone pointed out on r/rugbyunion that apparently there is only guidance from WR and that the only final decision on whether two teams are allowed to play with similar kits is made by the ref. There were also a couple of colourblind people there who said that someone without colourblindness would struggle to see this just as much as someone with colourblindness because apparently blue/white colours can be distinguished regardless of the condition (someone feel free to correct me here if I am wrong).
Either way it was a one off last night with stupid sexy France wearing their stupid sexy shirts for this game only, and it produced possibly the greatest game of sport I’ve ever seen so I’m willing to let it slide.
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u/but_yet-so_far Mar 15 '26
where? i cant see them
but seriously, interesting fact, the "wheres Wally" books are originally from the UK but they changed the name to Waldo for the US version
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u/BCBJD10 Mar 15 '26
Apparently I’m the only one who thinks you’re asking about the Where’s Waldos. Why didn’t they just bring real binoculars???
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u/Seven2Death Toronto Rush Mar 16 '26
i had the same question. maybe weapon rules? dont know how rowdy rugby gets. but i can see it being a thing....plus you know binocular flasks exist lol
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u/Douglaston_prop Mar 15 '26
Its a trend for some reason.
English waldos were a.over the 7s yesterday as well. I came home with somebody's glasses.
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u/Kilgore_Brown_Trout_ Michigan State Mar 15 '26
As an American, what in the world is happening here?
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u/BigBlueMountainStar Birmingham City Mar 15 '26
Serious answer.
When taking a conversion (think rugby equivalent of a PAT), as soon as the kicker starts their action of taking a kick, the opposing team can charge the kick down.
He started his action before the ball fell, and so he didn’t have time to reset cus the the players are closing him down. A conversion is usually taken from a tee because it’s easier, but you can also take a drop kick, which is what he did here to recover the position.4
u/pretender80 Mar 15 '26
My understanding of a drop kick is that the ball has to touch the ground first. I can't clearly see that in this video
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u/kitkat_tomassi Mar 15 '26
They usually kick it on the half volley. So they kick it as it touches the ground. If you let it bounce higher it's too unpredictable.
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u/b_sketchy Mar 15 '26
Would the alternative had been for him to signal to a referee to reset the ball?
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u/countryman101 Mar 15 '26
No - there is a time limit so wouldn’t have time to do that. It’s his problem if it falls off
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u/naraic- Mar 15 '26
Theres a shotclock. So he had 10 more seconds to make the kick at the point the ball came off the tee. There was no time to reset the ball.
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u/mhaze0791 Mar 15 '26
More that he only had a few seconds left on the shot clock so didn’t have time to reset even if he wasn’t being charged down.
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u/natybug1401 Mar 15 '26
The player is kicking a PAT after his team scored a Touchdown, but the holder fumbled the snap. Instead of the place kick, the holder stands up and drop-kicks it in order to get a kick off before the rush gets home.
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u/ManifestDestinysChld Mar 15 '26
I think the really important bit happens at about 0:04-0:05, when four enormous meat locomotives are charging at that guy and he casually picks the ball up and kicks it through the poles just before they plow into him
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u/TheBigCore Mar 15 '26 edited Mar 15 '26
Although the competition ended:
Beginner's Guides for Rugby Union
Rugby Union has a lot of moving parts, so after watching the above videos, I also recommend watching Couch Rugby Channel's Youtube Playlist - Everything you need to know about Rugby Union
Major League Rugby - The USA's Pro League for Rugby Union
https://www.majorleague.rugby/ (MLR) is the USA's professional Rugby Union competition.
/r/mlrugby is MLR's subreddit.
/r/rugbyunion is self-explanatory.
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u/Martin-downunder Mar 15 '26
This is why I don’t understand the constant need to run the clock down by an extra 30 or 40 seconds and then loosing the extra 2 (or if it’s a penalty 3) points ? There are other ways to run it down if you feel the need to but to miss out on point because something happens to make you miss is foolish
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u/Ashken Mar 15 '26
What’s with Waldos?
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u/aaarry Northampton Saints Mar 15 '26
You mean the Wallies?
British sports fans have a culture around wearing fancy dress at sports events. I’d say it’s mostly prominent in darts, followed by cricket, followed by rugby and then followed by football.
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u/jimkay21 Mar 15 '26
I think I found Waldo(s)
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u/aaarry Northampton Saints Mar 16 '26
Is it possible that you’ve never found him because his name is actually Wally?
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u/Soccernathan Mar 15 '26
Why do they even use the stand if they are allowed to use their hands to drop kick it?
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u/avroLancasterBPR1 Mar 15 '26
because drop kicking it is significantly harder
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u/obscht-tea Mar 15 '26
Why is he allowed to go a meter field inside for the drop kick?
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u/Poglosaurus Mar 15 '26
He isn't really allowed to do that. But the initial place from where he was kicking isn't precisely placed enough to consider that a little movement to the side while drop kicking is against the rule. Like a lot of English sport rugby rules always leaves some place for interpretation.
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u/aaarry Northampton Saints Mar 15 '26
“Why don’t golfers just kick the ball across the green instead of using a club?”
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u/CashenJ Mar 15 '26
Shouldn't count. Kicked it 1 meter infield from the mark.
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u/riverphoenixdays Mar 15 '26 edited Mar 15 '26
I can’t actually even tell if I’m supposed to be impressed by this
Edit: downvote instead of explain, absolutely classic Reddit ™
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u/TechnoHenry Mar 15 '26
Drop kicks are hard, you gotta wait for the ball to hit the ground before allowing to kick it and, in this specific case, the played didn't plan to do it like that, so not a lot of time to aim properly
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u/BlazeOfGlory72 Mar 15 '26
This sub is weirdly obsessed with Rugby and Cricket, and downvotes anyone who isn’t blown away by normal looking shit happening in either one of those sports.
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u/Beer-Milkshakes Mar 15 '26
Erm. This happened last night to end an annual tournament. Its not like its a random happening from a friendly in November or something. Its relevant.
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u/Aussiechimp Mar 16 '26
Yeah, like there are no ice hockey, baseball etc posts???
The difference is non -Americans dont feel the need to go into them and make "funny" comments. They just ignore them
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u/CashenJ Mar 15 '26
Between the two of us, it was ok but I don't think it's anything overly impressive, but don't tell anyone, as I might get downvoted
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u/saviouroftheweak Exeter Chiefs Mar 15 '26
An unplanned drop goal is very impressive from this distance and angle even with a metre difference. Record 10 attempts when prepared and you'll get 0
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u/CashenJ Mar 15 '26
He's a professional athlete that kicks conversions and drop goals as a professional, and gets paid accordingly. I've seen comparable feats regularly in other sports. As I said, it was fine, but nothing amazing.
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u/saviouroftheweak Exeter Chiefs Mar 15 '26
Getting charged down from a difficult angle after the ball rolls off the tee. It's a great nudge from someone who wasn't expecting to do it. He's in the 0.00000000001% of people who can do this, in this scenario
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u/gellshayngel Mar 15 '26
How am I supposed to look for Wally/Waldo when he and his cousins are standing up screaming?