The ending to yesterday’s Top 14 clash between La Rochelle and Biarritz was, to say the least, unique and extraordinary.
With the game having gone past the 80 and the score at 20-24 in La Rochelle’s favour, Biarritz had a line out five metres out from the La Rochelle line.
Just as the line out was completed and a maul formed, a second ball was kicked onto the pitch from someone hidden on the sideline.
Believing that the second ball was the correct ball, La Rochelle’s scrumhalf Tawera Kerr-Barlow gathered it a booted it dead.
Mere seconds after kicking the ball dead, Biarritz’s substitute hooker Francois De Ros, broke free from the maul and dove over the line with the correct ball for what he believed was the winning try.
Both sides celebrated, but it was clear that if the referee was going to make a decision it would be to either award Biarritz the score or reset with a scrum.
The Biarritz players, including ex-Toulon and England players Steffon Armitage, tried their best to argue their team's case.
However the referee would call for a reset scrum, off which Biarritz scored, and the game ended with a final score of 27-24 to Biarritz.
Disappointment for Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle who now lie 7th in the Top 14, seven points off leaders Bordeaux Bégles, and having played an extra game.
Biarritz sit second from bottom just a point above Toulon, and having played three more matches.
The Top 14 is no stranger to bizarre moments on the field, and we have reported about some of them in the past.
Below is a clip from 2018 where Clermont’s Flip van der Merwe gently pushes the referee in a clash with Toulouse. The South African lock received a four week ban for the incident and took to twitter to air his grievances.
I love rugby, but I do hate what it has become!! 4 weeks for this? #getoutofmyway pic.twitter.com/lyT0H3ZOly
— Flip van der merwe (@flipvandermerwe) May 24, 2018
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