Toulouse flanker Thibaud Flament provided a textbook example of jumping into the tackle during Saturday’s Top 14 clash with Brive.
The number seven got the ball at first receiver and ran hard at the Brive defence, but in anticipation of the contact Flament simply jumped over the two tacklers.
The openside was then flipped over onto his head and while both sets of players appealed for a decision from the referee, the official simply waved play on.
One set of fans will likely argue Flament was tackled in the air while others will say he illegally jumped into the tackle, and a similar debate broke out during the Six Nations when Jonny May scored an acrobatic try against Italy.
In that instance May was ruled to have been diving to score a try and therefore was not penalised, however it’s hard to understand why Flament wasn’t pulled up here.
#TOP14 – J18
Flament nous la joue comme en NFL avec ce saut spectaculaire au-dessus des défenseurs 😍 @StadeToulousainMerci @philousports pour ce clin d’œil avisé #Philouterie pic.twitter.com/qpKZDz3nLH
— TOP 14 Rugby (@top14rugby) March 6, 2021
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