Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

The Golden Lions Nearly Scored The Fastest Try Of All Time

By Calum Henderson
Lourens Erasmus

Lourens Erasmus could have probably set a new Guinness World Record but wasted too much time putting the ball down.

ADVERTISEMENT

 


WATCH Golden Lions vs Pumas: Full Game | Condensed


 

The Golden Lions opened their Currie Cup campaign against the Pumas at Ellis Park on Saturday by scoring one of the fastest tries in rugby history.

Two-metre lock Lourens Erasmus dotted down just 8 seconds into the game after running onto the kickoff and brushing past a non-existent Pumas defense.

Screen Shot 2016-08-14 at 1.05.11 AM

Erasmus’ try was fast but not quite the fastest ever. The Guinness World Record belongs to winger Tyson Lewis, who scored in 7.24 seconds for Doncaster Knights vs Old Albanians in 2013.

Lourens Erasmus could have broken that record if he hadn’t wasted precious time mucking around after crossing the try line. If he had dived here he almost definitely would have been the first player to break the 7 second barrier.

ADVERTISEMENT

Screen Shot 2016-08-14 at 1.13.49 AM

While not the fastest try ever Erasmus’ effort is certainly the fastest try by a forward ever. He joins the likes of John Leslie, Lee Blackett and Dafydd Howells in the sub-10 seconds club.

The Golden Lions went on to win 68-26.

northernhemi_banner

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Chasing The Sun | Series 1 Episode 1

Fresh Starts | Episode 2 | Sam Whitelock

Royal Navy Men v Royal Air Force Men | Full Match Replay

Royal Navy Women v Royal Air Force Women | Full Match Replay

Abbie Ward: A Bump in the Road

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 9

James Cook | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

New Zealand victorious in TENSE final | Cathay/HSBC Sevens Day Three Men's Highlights

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

F
Flankly 15 hours ago
The AI advantage: How the next two Rugby World Cups will be won

If rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.

24 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Lima Sopoaga: ‘We wish we left New Zealand sooner’ Lima Sopoaga: ‘We wish we left New Zealand sooner’
Search