Five Funniest Rugby Moments In History

This article however plans to ignore all that and instead focus on the lighter side of the game, turning the spotlight towards some of the funniest rugby moments.

The videos within this article showcase five of the most comical moments in rugby history, ranging from kickoffs gone horribly wrong, to some classic examples of why you shouldn’t celebrate too early.

We've all had that moment when we've been playing sport or performing some other form of physical activity and we've ripped our clothes. In this situation most of us would probably think to ourselves, "I better change into something else". Indeed if you were a professional rugby player who had a spare change of kit just waiting for you in the dugout it seems the common sense approach to getting your shorts ripped would be to go and change them.

Unfortunately, in the clip above common sense and Munster's Donncha O'Callaghan don't go hand in hand. Having had his shorts ripped during an earlier play, Donncha decided he no longer needed them and, having got rid of them, he attempted to play on wearing just his underwear. He then joins the Munster lineout much to the bemusement of his fellow teammates, whom he was expecting to lift him up to try and catch the ball.

Thankfully before the lineout throw could be taken the French referee spotted Donncha’s skimpy red pants and correctly informed him, “You can’t play like this!” Perhaps the most priceless moment of the whole incident is Donncha’s confusion at being told this, suggesting that he thought his attire was perfectly suitable for the job at hand.

It’s always a good to see someone who is acting cocky end up failing spectacularly and that is exactly what happens in this video. With London Irish drawing 13-13 late on with London Wasps in a tense Premiership encounter the Irish executed a nice set move off the back of a scrum on the halfway line. After some nice passing the ball eventually finds itself in the hands of Argentinian star Juan Manuel Leguizamon, who just has to run the ball over the line and touch it down for a simple try.

“But wait”, thought Leguizamon, “why score a simple try when I can show-off with an elaborate dive” And so Juan instead leapt several feet into the air to execute this genius plan, only to forgot the hold onto the ball…

To add insult to injury the slow-motion replays (the third angle in particular) showed that the Argentinian flanker’s heavy landing also resulted in him getting a face full of mud for his troubles. And that kids is why you shouldn’t celebrate too soon.

You could be forgiven for watching the above video and thinking that there was nothing funny about it. This advertisement was released by Nike to celebrate England winning the Grand Slam in the 2011 Six Nations tournament. However there was one slight problem with the ad. England didn’t win the Grand Slam.

In another example of why you shouldn’t celebrate too soon Nike made the mistake of making this ad BEFORE England played their final match of the tournament against Ireland. Perhaps using the ad as inspiration the Irish went on to record a comfortable 24-8 victory over the English, ruining their Grand Slam dreams in the process.

Welsh referee Nigel Owens is regarded as one of the best referees in the world of rugby and he commands the respect of the players more than most. He is always quick to communicate exactly what he expects from the players and it’s never a good idea to get on his wrong side. The video above is just one of a number of perfect examples of why you don’t mess with Nigel.

In the video Treviso scrum-half Tobias Botes makes the mistake of being a bit too overzealous when complaining to Nigel about a Munster player illegally lying on the ball to prevent him from playing it. Nigel disapproves of Tobias unprofessional behaviour and calls him over for a chat in which he makes it very clear who is in charge, before the Treviso scrum-half leaves with his tail tucked between his legs. Classic Nigel Owens.

If you watch football you are likely to see a player accidently put the ball into their own net every once in a while, resulting in an own goal being awarded. In rugby however there is no such equivalent. If the defending player touches the ball down in his own try area it leads to either a 22-metre drop-kick or a 5-metre scrum (depending on which team brought the ball into the try area in the first place) and no points are awarded. Except in the video above…

This incident takes place in the match between Australian sides North Harbour Rays and Sydney Stars. The referee is unsighted as the ball gets touched down behind the try-line and so, unsure what to award, he does what all good referees do under the circumstances and asks his TMO (television match official for those of you not familiar with rugby) to review the replay and tell him what had happened.

Whilst the yellow sleeves at the Rays’ shirts may have proved misleading on the first viewing, repeated viewings made things very clear that Rays’ player Mitch Lewis was the player to touch the ball back behind his own line for what should have resulted in a 5-metre scrum to the Stars. Despite the repeated viewings however this was completely missed by the TMO who assumed the yellow-sleeved arm that touched the ball down belonged to a Stars player, and so he awarded the try. And there you have it, rugby’s first and only ever "own try" was scored. The reaction of the commentator just about says it all.