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Video - Excruciating botched kick in the 84th minute conjures memories of Hastings

By Josh Raisey
Brandon Thomson (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group via Getty Images)

Owen Farrell’s travails from the kicking tee may have drawn the most attention over the weekend, but the England fly-half may not have produced the miss of the week. That gong unfortunately is awarded to Glasgow Warriors’ Brandon Thomson.

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The fly-half had an 84th minute conversion attempt from in front of the posts with his side trailing by a solitary point against the Dragons at Scotstoun. His skewed kick hit the post, bringing a surprising end to a dramatic few minutes, and condemning his side to a fifth loss in their last six matches.

For some Glasgow fans, this kick has a striking resemblance to Gavin Hastings’ infamous World Cup semi-final penalty miss against England in 1991.

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Both kicks were taken from more or less the same spot, but on that occasion Hastings pushed his attempt to the right, as Scotland fell to a 9-6 loss at Murrayfield.

Following a difficult start to the season for the Warriors, they looked like they were going to get some relief when Johnny Matthews scored a late try after the Warriors had fought back from a deficit. The try brought the scores to 23-22 to the Dragons, meaning that a successful conversion would win it. The Warriors players thought the game was theirs before they were shocked to see the former South Africa under-20 fly-half’s conversion attempt bounce back off the post.

This was the first time the Dragons have earned successive away wins in eight years, and it meant they leapfrogged the Warriors in the Guinness PRO14 Conference A, despite playing two games fewer. Glasgow now sit in fifth place in their conference, with only Zebre below them.

They travel to south west England this weekend to take on reigning European champions Exeter Chiefs in the Heineken Champions Cup, so it does not get any easier for the Warriors.

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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