It was a terrible day for pitch invaders in rugby. Ireland's game against Japan was marred by the presence of Jarvo 69 in a Japan jersey. Then, hours later in Cardiff, Liam Williams had a try scoring opportunity thwarted by a pitch invader. Wales lost to South Africa 23-18 and the Wales pitch invader is being blamed for costing his country the match.
You can see the incident below: the pitch invader is tackled just as Wales look ready to attack the try line with numbers. Liam Williams clearly has his route to the try line impeded by the splayed body of the tackled pitch invader.
Wales pitch invader stops try
Absolute madness. Probably the most unpopular man in Wales right now#WALvRSA pic.twitter.com/zfLXuV3tZa
— EK Rugby Analysis (@ek_rugby) November 6, 2021
Footage emerged of the pitch invader leaving the Principality stadium being showered in beer.
Video of the pitch invader @principalitysta being led away. Those beers aren’t cheap! https://t.co/KBHAD0rrVl
— Bedwyr Gullidge (@BedwyrG) November 6, 2021
Wales coach Wayne Pivac called the incident involving the Wales pitch invader 'very disappointing'.
"Look, I don’t know. We just saw a two-v-one type situation forming up. You don’t want to see that in the game," he said.
"Very disappointing that happened, but nothing the officials could do about that.
After the match, pundits Jamie Roberts was highly critical of the Wales pitch invader on Amazon Prime Sport. Roberts said:
"I'm sure security are going to have a look at that," he said. "You cannot have fans comings onto the field of play during play.
"Whether Liam goes on to score that, I'm not quite sure, the pass is behind him anyway but that is just outrageous.
"I know a fan got on during the All Blacks line-up during the anthem last week, and that's happened again this week so, they have to look at that because it's unacceptable at this level."
Mark Williams, manager of the Principality Stadium said the man had been arrested.
"We condemn this type of behaviour in the strongest possible terms. He was intercepted and immediately escorted from the stadium and handed over to South Wales Police."
Various social media accounts said the pitch invader had acted to win a £20 bet.
