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Manu Tuilagi smashes Tom Williams


Top14 player imposter!


JDV smashed by Benoit August


The Northampton Saints 30m scrum!


Bastareaud huge hit on Rory Lamont


All Blacks skills - Pt 2 In the backyard


Trinh-Duc sets up Harinordoquy try


Wales vs England 1999


Greg Holmes great hit on Francois Louw



Friday, October 16, 2009

Friday Funnies - Sean Maitland wipes out referee Chris Pollock

On Thursday night Napier’s McLean Park the top of the table clash between Hawkes Bay and Canterbury ended with a more than controversial refereeing decision. This incident, about 20 minutes earlier, might have been to blame.

It was a thrilling, high quality match that contained all the intensity and drama of an Air New Zealand Cup classic, the defending champions Canterbury snuck home 27-20 thanks to a late try by Dan Carter.

Canterbury had 10 All Blacks back in their side, including Carter and Richie McCaw. They outscored Hawkes Bay three tries to one, but the match was a closely-fought affair, which ended in controversy as prop Sona Taumalolo dived for the corner in injury time.

Referee Chris Pollock didn’t award the try though, which perhaps came from a delayed concussion after this massive collision he had with Sean Maitland earlier in the match.

It’s not really a funny, but it’s worth watching as it’s possibly one of the biggest ref collisions we’ve seen before.

"That's the hardest I've been hit in a Cup game and I felt it when I hit the ground," said Pollock afterwards.

Keep your eyes on the action, ref.


Time: 01:45
Forum: Discuss the Air NZ Cup on the Rugbydump forum


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17 Comments:

  • LMAO the noise that made! hah he did well to get up and continue for sure

    By Anonymous Jonno, at October 16, 2009 5:06 pm  

  • It just shows the power and strength of the modern day player.

    With big guys running at big guys the outcome isn't that impressive, so you don't grasp the impact of the collision.

    This incident really highlights it, in my opinion. Maitland wasn't running that hard, nor was he running that powerfully. But even with that in mind, he steamrolled the ref and sent him flying!

    I don't think alot of casuals and non rugby fans realise just how powerful and super-human the average rugger is. Such a relaxed run from a player not known for power or strength, and the ref almost did a 360 onto his arse!

    Well played to the ref too. Great to see well humoured officials enjoying themselfs!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at October 16, 2009 5:21 pm  

  • Haha the ref's reaction is classic. He just smiles and goes up... wonder what would happen if a football player accidentally kicked a football ref... that would be a scandal.

    By Anonymous Joost, at October 16, 2009 6:17 pm  

  • ehh 'super-human' might be a bit of an exageration!! To be fair the player gets knocked back a bit too.

    By Anonymous roddymac, at October 16, 2009 6:24 pm  

  • Took it like a champ

    By Anonymous WelshOsprey, at October 16, 2009 7:03 pm  

  • First time round i thought the ref was a player

    By Anonymous The Inside Shoulder, at October 16, 2009 7:36 pm  

  • totally agree with comment #2

    pollock is no light-weighted dwar, i saw him when i was in NZ. and for a player with a (in rugby terms) "smaller" statue like maitlands it's not that surprising he gets knocked back a wee bit too, thinking of weight etc. but still, he was rather jogging then running and instantly stopped when he realized he was about to smash the ref. so it's impressive how easily the young fella could smash a grown man of approx. 80+ kg? :D

    By Anonymous opfazonk, at October 16, 2009 8:22 pm  

  • Anonymous and opfazonk I'm not so sure. The ref wasn't looking to tackle the guy, he was looking to get out of the way, so he would have been on his toes. And if anybody runs into you and you don't have your feet planted on the ground then the guy's momentum is going to knock you out of the way. Even an average sized person could have stood his ground against the guy if he wanted to. Although you are right in saying that today's players are very strong.

    By Anonymous Kearney for tests, at October 16, 2009 8:40 pm  

  • fair point. but i was more pointing at the ability of pushing away a man of pollocks weight.

    let's do a field test with pro wingers smashing civilians to find out what happens :D

    By Anonymous opfazonk, at October 16, 2009 8:47 pm  

  • I don't care if he was the ref or not: NICE HIT!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at October 16, 2009 8:48 pm  

  • "let's do a field test with pro wingers smashing civilians to find out what happens :D"
    civilians hahaha
    The ref took it like a champ

    By Anonymous eric, at October 16, 2009 10:31 pm  

  • Kearney for tests i think has it right....yes the ref got smashed out the way but if he had been any of the opposition players trying to tackle maitland i think maitland would have been smashed.... i do get the point that these guys are big guys but, to bounce someone who is trying his best to become paper thin to let a player past isn't gonna ever gonna be hard, and as someone pointed out, maitland did get bounced back a bit himself....

    good video....but not really super-human

    By Anonymous No.7, at October 16, 2009 11:24 pm  

  • I wonder if he didn't think the ref was on the opposing side. At a glance their kits are similar.

    By Blogger Crosser, at October 17, 2009 1:44 am  

  • maitland's not exactly small..he's at least 95 kg

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at October 17, 2009 3:13 am  

  • Gray ref outfit looks a lot like the black white outfit...

    By Blogger Maarten, at October 17, 2009 11:15 am  

  • "Keep your eyes on the action"

    probably the 2nd most ironic Kiwi post ever on Rugbydump

    .. the first being the guy puking over the Tui sign that said
    "Think before you buy under 18s drink"
    http://rugbydump.blogspot.com/2008/09/midweek-madness-too-much-beer-for-pukey.html

    By Blogger Cheyanquí, at October 20, 2009 3:47 am  

  • Yeah nah I played rugby against Pollock at uni and he's a lightweight.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at February 22, 2011 3:49 am  

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