Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'I can't believe that worked': Five miracle plays that actually paid off

Lionel Cronje

In honour of Lionel Cronje’s slick wraparound grubber against the Force, Jamie Wall looks at five other players who managed to pull off a perfect miracle kick or pass.

ADVERTISEMENT

Oh, the irony. The weekend Super Rugby went through the turmoil of change and having to cut teams, one of the teams that’ll be certain to be in the firing line pulled off one of the most viral highlights of the season.

Lionel Cronje’s utterly ridiculous one-man wraparound pass and grubber through for Malcolm Jaer to score showed that the Kings are still capable of a few highlights. Even still, it arguably wasn’t even the top miracle play of the weekend when you consider Dillyn Leyd’s behind the back flick to set up SP Marais.

[rugbypass-ad-banner id=”1473723684″]

In honour of these super Super Rugby plays, let’s have a look at some of the other inspired, crazy or just downright jammy moments:

Joe Roff vs England: Did we ever tell you how much we love retro jerseys? That is part of the reason this play makes the list, but mainly it’s because it features three epic passes in a row, each getting better than the last till Joe Roff throws a miracle ball to Ben Tune. The funny bit is the sky-blue throwback New South Wales kit (that’s what Australia wore as their original strip), given that none of the players involved in that movement played for the Waratahs.

Quade Cooper vs the Cheetahs: When he’s not injured or fighting overweight man-children for charity, Quade Cooper is capable of some pretty special things. Most of them came during the 2011 season, when the confidence of the Reds led him to try a cross kick in his own in goal that led to a 60m break upfield. Of course, it was this sort of thing that led them to their one and only title as well. Which seems a long time ago now, sadly.

Tamati Ellison vs the Crusaders: The man with one of the most notable surnames in New Zealand rugby has carved out a career that took him to four Super Rugby teams and a decent stint in Japan. He also was looking destined to be a one-test All Black after debuting in 2009, but form like this saw him recalled back over three years later. By then he was on his third franchise. After this season with the Highlanders he moved to the Melbourne Rebels, but didn’t produce any miracle passes there.

ADVERTISEMENT

Carlos Spencer vs the Springboks: As well as retro jerseys, we’ve also got a thing for Carlos Spencer. The cheekiest man in rugby pulled out this piece of improvisation in not only a match against the Springboks, not only a World Cup match, but a knockout quarterfinal. This play is one that All Black fans might not remember so well because the next week King Carlos threw a pass that didn’t quite go according to plan.

Lima Sopoaga vs the Hurricanes: This one deserved a try for the kick, though maybe not so much for the shocking forward pass that Matt Faddes throws after collecting it. Sopoaga is often looked at as the steady and sensible option at first five for the All Blacks, but stuff like this shows he can mix it up with the likes of Beauden Barrett if he needs to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVjtWILuG0M

Watch every game of Super Rugby live on rugbypass.com, home of the best online rugby coverage including news, highlights, previews & reviews, live scores, and more!

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

307 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Why World Cup winner doesn’t blame All Black for leaving New Zealand Why World Cup winner doesn’t blame All Black for leaving New Zealand
Search