Watch: Controversial Toulouse Sevens try

An incident during the Toulouse leg of the World Sevens Series this weekend has caused much controversy and debate.

In the men’s pool match between Argentina and England, Will Homer broke through from long range to cross the opposition line in the second half, but he waited more than two minutes to ground the ball to run down the clock.

It was a deliberate tactic and no Argentina players challenged him while he stood with ball in hand because it meant both teams would go through to the knockout stages of the tournament.

Argentina won the match 19-7, so both they and England progressed to the quarter-finals, with Canada missing out on points difference.

You can watch the controversial Toulouse Sevens try here…

The incident has been criticised by former international referee Nigel Owens, who said on Twitter: “I don’t think this is good for the game. A player or team must not do anything that is against the spirit of the game. I’m surprised the referee didn’t make him ground the ball.”

Former England and Fiji Sevens coach Ben Ryan tweeted: “Good opportunity to tweak the laws to stop it happening again. Neither team to blame and official left in tricky position. But it looks bad, doesn’t fit the sport’s values and could be open to manipulation. Officials should have the powers to order them to put it down.”

What do you think of the controversial try? Does there needs to be a law to force players to ground the ball? Let us know your views by emailing rugbyworldletters@futurenet.com

Both Argentina and England went on to lose in the quarter-finals, to Ireland and Samoa respectively, with Fiji crowned champions after beating Ireland 29-17 in the final.

In the women’s competition, New Zealand beat Australia 21-14 in the final.

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