All Black Aaron Smith responds after on field horror show
Highlanders captain Aaron Smith had two options after being unceremoniously leapt over by Chiefs No8 Pita Gus Sowakula for a try on Saturday: he could either ignore it and hope everyone forgets or he could immediately see the funny side of being a human hurdle. He took the latter option.
The Chiefs won 26-16 in the first round of Super Rugby Pacific in Queenstown, with the No8 scoring the second try of the match from the base of the scrum. Smith failed to get a hand on the 27-year-old Fijian. The All Blacks centurion took to Twitter soon after, writing "Now I know how NFL players feel getting jumped," alongside a photo of himself clutching at thin air.
Of course, this manner of scoring is more common in American football, and has actually created plenty of buzz online regarding the legality of the try. This is a grey area of the law, as it is illegal in rugby to jump into a tackle, but not illegal to hurdle a tackler or jump to score a try. If it is deemed dangerous, the 'hurdler' can be penalised, but this was obviously deemed safe.
Highlanders Squad
1. Ethan de Groot
2. Liam Coltman
3. Jermaine Ainsley *
4. Manaaki Selby-Rickit
5. Josh Dickson
6. Shannon Frizell **
7. James Lentjes (Co-Vice Captain)
8. Gareth Evans
9. Aaron Smith (Captain)
10. Mitch Hunt (Co-Vice Captain)
11. Josh TImu *
12. Scott Gregory
13. Fetuli Paea *
14. Mosese Dawai *
15. Sam Gilbert
Reserves
16. Andrew Makalio *
17. Daniel Lienert-Brown
18. Josh Hohneck
19. Bryn Evans
20. Marino Mikaele-Tu’u
21. Folau Fakatava
22. Marty Banks
23. Thomas Umaga-Jensen
*Debut
**50th Game
Gallagher Chiefs Squad
1. Ollie Norris
2. Bradley Slater
3. Sione Mafileo
4. Laghlan McWhannell**
5. Brodie Retallick
6. Luke Jacobson
7. Sam Cane (cc)
8. Pita Gus Sowakula
9. Xavier Roe
10. Josh Ioane*
11. Jonah Lowe
12. Quinn Tupaea
13. Alex Nankivell
14. Shaun Stevenson
15. Emoni Narawa*
Reserves
16. Samisoni Taukei’aho (50th Match)
17. Atu Moli
18. Angus Ta’avao
19. Naitoa Ah Kuoi
20. Kaylum Boshier
21. Brad Weber (cc)
22. Bryn Gatland
23. Chase Tiatia
*denotes Gallagher Chiefs debut
**denotes DHL Super Rugby Pacific debut
Take a look at the try: