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Billy Vunipola on the brink as Montpellier finally lose patience
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Thomas Ramos gives his take on controversial Cheslin Kolbe World Cup charge down
By Josh Raisey
Of all the moments at the Rugby World Cup, there is a case that none was more important that Cheslin Kolbe’s charge down in the quarter-final.
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The South Africa winger was able to prevent Thomas Ramos from adding an extra two points after a France try in the first-half, as the Springboks went on to win by a solitary point at the Stade de France. Less than two weeks later they were winning the World Cup.
A month on, this is understandably still a raw topic for the France fullback, moreso because he is still questioning the legality of Kolbe’s run.
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A player is well within the laws of the game to attempt to charge down a conversion, but they must be behind the try line when the kicker begins their run-up. That was questioned by plenty after South Africa’s win, and Ramos himself is not convinced his former Toulouse teammate was onside.
Speaking to Midi Olympique recently, the 28-year-old addressed the controversial charge down. He said (translated by Google): “At first I have an effect of surprise. I say to myself: damn, that happened to me! Watching the match again, I don’t feel like I’ve changed anything in my routine.
“When everyone says to you: ‘he left before,’ you want to say it too. I believe that, according to the exact rule, his feet must be behind the line. By the time he leaves, he has the foot on the line. But, once again, we can blame Ben O’Keeffe. But if the video referee had wanted to watch again, or had watched again the image, and considering that there was a fault, he had time to call the referee. It was more the responsibility of the video refereeing. These are two points which could have helped us win…”
That was not the only regret that Ramos had after the match, as he went on to list the areas in which Les Bleus went wrong in the 29-28 loss in Paris.
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“High balls, we could and should have done better,” he said. “There are 14 points that come from there.
“Maybe we could have been a little more ambitious when we were four points behind going into touch. We were really strong up front. We took the three points.
“We could have – to have been able to score on this action where Etzebeth hits the ball. These are frustrating actions.”
