The World Rugby sevens tournament in Toulouse descended into farce today amid unprecedented scenes that saw England and Argentina effectively stop playing for more than two minutes so they could progress in the competition.
In a bizarre turn of events, England's Will Homer burst clear to score a try but decided not to actually touch the ball down. Remarkably, Argentina let the situation unfold, leaving Homer to stand in the in-goal area for more than two minutes as the clock ticked towards the match's conclusion. Indeed, a couple of Pumas players who attempted to move towards Homer were called back by their own coach.
The referee's gentle attempts to encourage Homer to touch the ball down so the game could continue were simply ignored (Nigel Owens says he would have sanctioned the player).
Homer's try, when it was eventually touched down with the clock in the red, made the score 19-7 to Argentina - a result which saw both teams progress to the quarter-finals at the expense of Canada.
Canada had beaten Japan in an earlier game, which sent them top of Pool A with two wins and a loss. England had won both their games before they played Argentina, while Argentina had won one and lost one, which meant they needed a win to progress to the quarter-finals. England only needed to lose by fewer than 16 points.
Homer’s try, with England 19-0 down at the time, meant England would lose by 12 or 14 points so he decided to run the clock down to lessen the chances of Argentina scoring again late on. This suited Argentina, who were down to six men by this point, as it ended any prospect of England scoring two late scores that would potentially knock them out.
While the rulebook essentially allowed the situation to unfold, many believe it was contrary to World Rugby's regulations around "integrity" and respect for the game.
Fans piled onto social media to label the incident "disgusting", "shameful" and "reprehensible", while others blamed the rulebook for allowing the situation to legally develop.
The commentators on World Rugby's coverage of the event were stunned, saying: "That is brutal [on Canada]. Wow, I have never seen anything like that on a rugby field before. Unbelievable situation but you can't blame the players or the coaches."
Wales lost all three of their matches in the competition, going down 56-5 against France, 19-0 against Fiji and 19-14 against Kenya.
