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Watch: Newcastle score the fastest ever try in European history

(Photo by Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images)

Newcastle don’t have much of a European pedigree but they managed to break a record last weekend when centre Max Wright scored the fastest ever try in those tournaments when touching down against Worcester after just eleven seconds, shaving four seconds off the previous best mark.

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Recent Falcons versus the Warriors clashes have been eventful, to say the least. When Worcester visited Newcastle in the Gallagher Premiership last month the match was held over until the following day due to a storm and a nail-biter ensued, resulting in a 24-all draw on a freezing late November night in the English northeast.   

There was no snow on the Kingston Park pitch 13 days later when the teams met again, this time in Europe, but what was served up in the Challenge Cup was no less entertaining as Newcastle edged a 31-26 win in which the try scored in a blink of an eye at the start was ultimately the difference. 

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The Alex Ferguson of French rugby

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The Alex Ferguson of French rugby

What happened was that the Worcester lifting pod got its positioning wrong when trying to gather Will Haydon-Wood’s kick-off as it fell from the sky outside the 22. This led to the ball bouncing twice, inviting Wright to fasten onto it without breaking stride to score in the corner.  

The swiftness of the score in front of a 3,431 attendance eclipsed the previous fastest European try scored by Harry Randall after 15 seconds for Bristol Bears in the 2020 Challenge Cup final against Toulon in Provence. The quickest score prior to that was an 18-second Heineken Cup try for Napolioni Nalaga for Clermont away to Scarlets in 2013.

Newcastle boss Dean Richards didn’t get hung up about his team’s record-breaking breakthrough in the aftermath, however. “It was a bit like when we drew with them [Worcester] in the league here, and we should have won by a country mile if I’m being honest,” he said on his club’s website.

“We allowed them time and again to get back into the game, we showed our inaccuracy in certain areas but at the same time we have got that ability to turn it on when we want to”

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M.W.Keith 2 hours ago
'Let's not sugarcoat it': Former All Black's urgent call to protect eligibility rules

I understand that there are choices to be made in professional sports and choices have consequences, but it does seem strange that a professional athlete who plies their trade in order to make a living cannot represent their country at test level. All talk of loyalty and so on is an outdated argument, we live in a global economy. It makes the armchair critic feel nice and so on, chatting smack about loyalty to a jersey and so on, but to think that someone like Mounga is not loyal to NZ just bc he is taking a paycheck - which as a professional athlete he is entitled to do - is a quite silly. No one is calling PSDT or Handre Pollard disloyal to SA bc they are taking a better paycheck somewhere else. No one accuses Cheslin Kolbe of being disloyal to the Green and Gold just because he missed out on years of eligibility by playing in France. Since Rassie opened the selection policy, the overseas players have more than proved their worth. Anyone who says otherwise is deluded and is living in an outdated version of reality. South Africans understand that the ZAR is worth very little and so no one in the country criticises a South African for leaving to find better economic opportunities elsewhere.


This is the same for anyone, anywhere. If there is an economic opportunity for someone to take, should they lose national privilege because they are looking for a better paycheck somewhere else? What a silly idea. The government doesn't refuse your passport because you work in another country, why should you lose your national jersey for this? If a player leaves to a so-called lesser league and their ability to represent their national jersey at a high level diminishes bc of it, then that should say it all. If Mounga were to return to the ABs and his playmaking is better than D-Mac and BB, then he is the better player for the position. If BB and D-Mac eclipse him, then they are the better players and should get the nod. Why is this so difficult to understand? Surely you want the best players to play in the national team, regardless of who pays their monthly salary? Closing borders is historically a silly economic idea, why should it be any different in national level sports?


The old boys tradition in rugby has created a culture of wonderful sportsmanship, it is why we all (presumably) prefer the game to football. But when tradition gets in the way of common sense and sporting success, perhaps traditions should change. Players have the right to earn money, there is no need to punish them for it. Rugby needs to think globally if it wants to survive.

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