Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Brock James scores a sneaky try against Biarritz in the Top 14

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Brock James scores a sneaky try against Biarritz in the Top 14

Clermont progressed to the Top 14 semi finals after coming back from being 14 points down, to beat Biarritz 27-17. This quick piece of thinking by Brock James contributed to the effort.

Defending champions Clermont will face Toulouse in the semi final in Marseille in two week's time. They were 17-6 down following two Biarritz tries, but rallied well in the second half, and were helped by a yellow card for Iain Balshaw.

In fact it took literally seconds for Clermont to take advantage of the dismissal, as Balshaw had barely left the field before flyhalf Brock James caught the Biarritz side napping, coasting in for a sneaky, yet well taken try.

The try was converted by Morgan Parra, taking the score to 13-17 before the home side scored two tries in 5 minutes, rapidly taking the score to 27-17 before Biarritz knew what hit them.

There was more controversy though, with Alexandre Lapandry's try allegedly being prevented from touching down, but the TMO made the decision, and the rest is history.

Time: 01:31

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By Remy, at May 17, 2011 11:19 pm
The one and only thing i've ever been told as rugby player...never turn your back on the opposition...nicely done by Brock James i must say.

By creggs08, at May 17, 2011 11:20 pm
Reminds me of Stephen Jones' try against Argentina in 2009, cheeky bastards...

By Hermes, at May 17, 2011 11:21 pm
bad sportsmanship

By Anonymous, at May 17, 2011 11:24 pm
Pause the replay before he taps it and you can count a few physios and someone receiving treatment so should not be allowed. Plus if the tee is on the kick has been elected (not sure if it was or not).

By Anonymous, at May 17, 2011 11:38 pm
Hard to say about sportsmanship... I guess its not "on" because he didnt give the opposition a heads up of what he was doing, but he was not inclined to.

Im assuming it was just a troll comment. I thought the try was great and as creggs said, follows up the whole never turn your back thing.

By No.7, at May 17, 2011 11:39 pm
Anonymous talking about the tee.

The kick is only elected when the captain, or the kicker says so. If there is no indication of what is to be done then its all fair game.

One of the physios probably carries the tee anyway...

By Anonymous, at May 17, 2011 11:41 pm
Some nice and solid defending there
;-)

By Guy, at May 18, 2011 12:11 am
It was a clever effort from James, but I feel that Balshaw was a bit hard done to begin with.

He makes the tackle and the supporting player comes in and goes straight to ground. That means there's no ruck (or that the Clermont player is involved in a "ruck" illegally), and he can go for the ball.

I think he didn't do himself any favors by gesturing angrily/shouting at the referee, though.

By tangent, at May 18, 2011 12:25 am
It's not just the captain/kicker's say-so. If a member of the team's staff produces the kicking tee, you can't take the quick tap. That's why the wrong decision was made with Stephen Jones, but the right one made with David Humphreys and Neil Jenkins.

By Anonymous, at May 18, 2011 12:28 am
Law 21b "The intention to kick is signalled by the arrival of the kicking tee or sand, or when the player makes a mark on the ground."

Dunno if this happened in this situation.

By Anonymous, at May 18, 2011 12:28 am
Charlie Hodgeson scored a similar try for Sale this season, everyone was under the sticks waiting for the penalty so he tapped and went over in the corner!

By xandermunro, at May 18, 2011 12:38 am
@ Tangent....

Would agree, for the ref was very harsh on Balshaw, The Clemont player could have easily been done for lying on the ball and would have been a penalty the other way and the attack would have ben over. Didn't see the game so guessing that something had happened before to lead to giving a card for something so minor.

By Anonymous, at May 18, 2011 1:13 am
Had the ref signalled that play was to continue? Does he need to do so with his whistle as he had stopped play for the card.

By Anonymous, at May 18, 2011 2:39 am
Is he not pretending to kick to touch, therfore there need be no indication to the referee or opposition what so ever?

By themull, at May 18, 2011 1:12 pm
@Tangent and @Anonymous once a tackle is made you can attempt to play the ball immediately but have to come from your own side. The rule about how to play the ball in the tackle area is similar to that for once a ruck is formed.

By Ben, at May 18, 2011 3:52 pm
I appreciate the reply, Ben, but I'm not sure I agree...

15.4
(a): tackler must immediately release tackled player
(b): tackler must immediately get up and/or move away from the tackled player
(c): "The tackler must get up before playing the ball and then may play the ball from any direction."

Then, 15.6 (c) talks about the supporting tackler playing the ball, and it seems to go with what you're saying about coming from your own side:
"Players in opposition to the ball carrier who remain on their feet [assisting in the tackle]...must release...may then play the ball...on their feet...from behind the ball and from directly behind the tackled player..."

I'd think that since Balshaw was himself the tackler, he'd be under 15.4 (c)...but the lines get a bit fuzzy, I guess.

In any case, I'd be inclined to say that because before Balshaw even went in for the ball, the Clermont #5 went straight to ground (probably 15.7), so the first penalty should've been against them.

But it all happened so quickly and advantage/benefit of the doubt goes to the team carrying the ball forward, so I can see why the ref pinged Balshaw.

At the end of the day, that's all just hypothetical and what happened happened and Brock James ended up scoring a sneaky little try.

But it was worth analyzing...if not overanalyzing...

By tangent, at May 18, 2011 8:50 pm
the other try was better

By Anonymous, at May 18, 2011 11:55 pm
Shameful game management from the referee.

Its one thing to take a cheeky quick tap on a regular penalty.

Entirely another to give a yellow card, have multiple physios from both teams out there -- (see the tee guy right behind Brock James at 1:20).

Not saying Brock didn't do something wrong.

But referee should have managed the situation much better.

By cheyanqui, at May 19, 2011 6:20 pm
Intelligent play. Rugby is a game of the mind as well as the body.

By Mike, at May 19, 2011 10:32 pm
I remember humphries doing this for ulster

By Anonymous, at May 20, 2011 3:36 am
Cheyanqi it wasnt a cheeky quick tap...

it was a tap and go...

its logical..after a penalty you can kick at goal, kick to touch, scrum, or tap and go....

By Anonymous, at May 20, 2011 8:04 am
very sloppy defending Biarritz. Broken the cardinal law of rugby by simply not focussing on the ball

By Irish Ref, at May 20, 2011 4:25 pm