Not to be bested by Ashton, Carlin Isles drops massive Cape Town blooper

Chris Ashton’s shanked kick in the Champions Cup may have made the headlines in Europe, but down in Cape Town it was the world’s fastest rugby player taking home the honours in the blooper department.

Carlin Isles was doing his usual trick of making defenders look glacially slow. Yet having done the hard work of outsprinting the covering defence, before cutting back inside, Isles literally ‘drops the ball’.

Isles, who clocked 37kmph earlier in the tournament, saw the funny side. What else could he do.

Isles is returning from a injury-ravaged 12 months, which saw him miss out on much of last season’s World Series.

Isles played football and participated in track and field at Jackson High School in Ohio, where he holds school records in the long jump, 100-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter events.

He was an All-American in the 60 meter dash at Ashland University, running a personal best of 6.68 seconds and was also an All-GLIAC selection on the Ashland University football team and still holds school records for most kickoff return yardage in a game and longest kickoff return for a touchdown.

Though his 100 metre time of 10.13 seconds would have been good enough for the semi-finals at the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games, Isles did not attend the Games. He began his rugby career shortly thereafter with the Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Football Club and earned a Residency contract with the Men’s Eagles Sevens.

He returned to the Olympic Training Centre in 2014 following a stint with the Glasgow Warriors of the Guinness Pro12.