First we had Joe Marler’s head, now it’s Vincent Koch’s shoulder making a bid for the most bizarre assist of the Rugby World Cup 2023.

The tighthead prop misjudged a pass from returning fly-half Handre Pollard, who was recalled in place of injured hooker Malcolm Marx, having initially missed out on the South Africa Rugby World Cup squad.

Read more: Watch Joe Marler’s head assist England try in freak fashion

Vincent Koch’s shoulder assists Canan Moodie for Springbok try

And the ball ricocheted off the unsuspecting 33-year-old’s shoulder and Tonga appeared to stop, but the old adage of playing to the whistle worked out well for centre Canan Moodie.

He scooped up the bouncing ball and skated through at speed, leaving the Tongan defenders for dead to register South Africa’s second score of their final Pool B clash. Cobus Reinach’s quick-thinking saw South Africa register the first try of the game after a William Havili penalty had given the Pacific Islanders the lead in Marseille.

Moodie’s fortunate score was followed by another Pollard conversion, the focus on his goal-kicking after Manie Libbok and Faf de Klerk both missed two kicks each in the narrow defeat to Ireland, taking the score out to 14-3.

Read more: 2023 Rugby World Cup pools

Hooker Deon Fourie was the beneficiary of a powerful Springbok maul before Tonga captain Ben Tameifuna used his strength to score the ʻIkale Tahi’s first try of the night.

Havili dragged his attempted conversion attempt wide, meaning South Africa went into the half-time interval 21-8 to the good.

Do you like the law that it’s play-on if the ball comes off of the shoulder? Did you agree with Luke Pearce here?

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