The legality of Cheslin Kolbe's moment of magic against Connacht questioned

January 11, 2020
17012
Ultimate Rugby

Cheslin Kolbe's skills were once again the talk of Twitter as Toulouse claimed a 7-21 win over Connacht in Saturday's Champions Cup action.

Toulouse were battling to seal a place in the knockout stage but managed to seal their place with the win over Connacht Rugby in Galway.

The World Cup-winning winger had an influential performance despite not getting a try as he made 11 tackles and over 50 running metres.

However, the moment that became debatable was his sublime piece of skill to claim Jack Carty's cross-field kick 11 minutes into the game.

Carty's kicked bounced high and Kolbe rose higher than his opposite winger Niyi Adeolokun to tip the ball over the advancing winger, before collecting it and running up the field twenty metres.

This from @Cheslin_Kolbe11 🤯pic.twitter.com/5MEDahxC6Y
— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) January 11, 2020

The legality of the tap was questioned on twitter with @theblitzdefence starting the debate.

Kolbe seems to get away with knocking the ball over the Connacht player's head and regathering it! #CONvTOU pic.twitter.com/XT039TF9Ku
— rugby (@theblitzdefence) January 11, 2020

Law 11.3 states that a player may not intentionally knock the ball forward with hand or arm.

It does result in a penalty with Kolbe's actions James Simpson-Daniels and Brian O'Driscoll who have produced similar actions in the past causing the change in the laws.

Others argued that it was no different to tapping a pass up to intercept.