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We Found the Usain Bolt of World Rugby, and He is a Touch Judge
By Hayden Donnell
The fastest man in world rugby was on the field as Wales played the All Blacks on Saturday. He just wasn’t where you’d expect.
It all happened in 15 seconds. Ryan Crotty, a bank teller moonlighting as an All Black, was tackled. The ball burst free. A Welshman kicked it upfield, sending a stampede of professional sportsmen in its wake. The camera zoomed out to follow the chase, and there he was.
Will Houston was barely visible at first, lagging far behind a pack of muscle-encrusted largebodies. The 28-year-old touch judge is a novice in the world of reffing, barely known before this test. But this was his moment. As the players gave chase, he turned to keep up.
And as he ran, something strange happened. Houston transformed into a rocket. So-called professional athletes faded into a mist behind him, barely visible in his slipstream. “Speedster” Hallam Amos, burned into dust. Dane Coles, more like Lame Moles. Houston was a cheetah running down an arthritic house cat. Usain Bolt racing a sack of old bones.
Sky Sport commentator Grant Nisbett excitedly exclaimed “Who's got the pace?”. He wasn’t looking in the right place. The answer was hidden in plain sight. It was Houston, The Flash of the sidelines; a human comet bursting across the Auckland night; the fastest man in world rugby.
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Latest Comments
Lol but no, I wasn’t trying to re run that one, since I said there isn’t enough evidence to say which teams prevail. Maybe you didn’t get that far reading my post? 😉
But as you mentioned it, I do recall the turnaround in bristols fortunes that season midway through so I had a look at the teams for that game and bears had around half a team on the pitch and a few more on the bench. I don’t know the crusaders well enough to have a decent view on their strength but I’m sure you will, so their squad was as follows:
15 Chay Fihaki, 14 Manasa Mataele, 13 Jone Rova, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Macca Springer, 10 Rivez Reihana, 9 Willi Heinz (c), 8 Christian Lio-Willie, 7 Corey Kellow, 6 Dominic Gardiner, 5 Jamie Hannah, 4 Quinten Strange, 3 Seb Calder, 2 George Bell, 1 Kershawl Sykes-Martin.Replacements: 16 Ioane Moananu, 17 George Bower, 18 Ryan Coxon, 19 Antonio Shalfoon, 20 Fletcher Anderson, 21 Noah Hotham, 22 Taha Kemara, 23 Levi Aumua, 24 Taine Robinson, 25 Jack Gray, 26 Gus Brown
Go to commentsHis title may be have been assistant but lets face the facts. Prior to Schmidt joining Foster was on the verge of being sacked. Only for the SA result in the rugby championship he was basically gone. Schmidt changed ye attacking platform and certainly had his hands all over the breakdown in that quarter. Ye improved massively the year out from that world cup after he got on board.
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