We’ve probably all dreamt of pulling off slick one-handed catches in a match, and while there have been a few who have done it in the lineout occasionally, it’s safe to say that we’ve never seen it done quite like this before! Enter Canada’s Adam Zaruba at the Paris 7s.
Zaruba stretched up, barely leaving the ground, and took the catch with casual aplomb. He looked almost as shocked as everyone else, but brought it down easily and actually only touched the ball with two hands when it came to placing it for a very well deserved try.
The beauty of this was it was a genuine catch, it wasn’t just resting on his hand or pulled in from a drifting pass in the backline. He got his mit around it and held on. This type of thing just doesn’t happen with a rugby ball, and certainly not from a restart kick travelling from that height.
Gilbert, the ball manufaturers, of course took a bit of tongue in cheek credit for it, using the moment for a great bit of marketing, tweeting: “Gilbert Synergie XV-6 + Adam Zaruba = 7’s Heaven”
It was an outstanding, miracle play that you probably won’t see again for a while. Haters might find a way to bring this down (they do that), but give the man his dues – he took a chance and it stuck.
And for those of you who didn’t quite get the commentator’s reference, he’s talking about the great sport of cricket, where one handed catches are a bit more common, but also impressive.
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