Midweek Madness - Satala big dive for the line

Thanks to a user submission, we’ve come across this amusing try from the last Commonwealth Games’ Sevens Tournament, held in Melbourne in 2006.

With all the recent talk of bringing Rugby Sevens back into the Olympics , the Commonwealth Games would be the ideal tournament to look back on and acknowledge that Sevens certainly does have a place on the world stage, in an event like this, or more significantly, at the Olympics.

New Zealand, the all conquering Sevens masters, beat England in the final in 2006, taking gold after England had knocked out Fiji in the Semis.

That Semi Final was extremely competitive, but it was England who had a comfortable lead with time almost up. This short clip is of the late try from Satala of Fiji, as he took a quick tap and dived over the line in some kind of bizarre attempt to get over the defenders. The try was given, and the dive was successful, although in real time it did look as though he had dropped the ball while trying to get it down.

The replay gives us a better view of it, and whatever the case, it was a rather peculiar try, something you don’t see very often.

In the end England beat potential title contenders Fiji by 21-14.