Rugby’s social media moments of the week
By Charlie Elliott
From emerging nations having newfound success, to the downright bizarre happening in Trinidad and everything in between, rugby social media has not failed to disappoint this week.
Familiar faces also delivered the humour with Mako Vunipola trialling as a fly-half, and Afolabi Fasogbon showed some unbeatable antics for Gloucester.
Here are The Rugby Paper’s best picks for the social media moments of the week.
Crossbar falling on player
The Rugby Americas North Sevens tournament in Trinidad would not usually have caused a stir in world rugby.
However, when Mexico faced Bermuda, Mexican player Diego Ramirez Aguilar ran clear and ended up going straight into a post. If that wasn’t painful enough, the crossbar fell and landed on him.
A similar incident happened in 2017 at Hinckley RFC, when a powerful scrum wiped out the whole posts.
James Haskell was also guilty of running into a post, in a moment where he appeared to try and tackle it to no avail.
Spain winning silver in sevens
Spain got just their third-ever win against the All-Blacks sevens team on their way to reaching the final in Dubai, where Fiji would eventually undo them.
It was their first-ever SVNS series final and is a new milestone amongst recent exponential growth to the sport in the country, big things could be coming for Espana.
It was well-earned and no fluke, with their sevens setup getting better and better in recent years.
Afo Fasogbon talking to Tom West
Afolabi Fasogbon is a young prop who is a huge prospect for Gloucester and England.
Despite teammates saying that he is quiet and unassuming off the pitch, Afo is an absolute monster on it, and has the confidence to boot.
In another instalment of taunting the opposition, he gave a little wave and a shush to Tom West after winning a penalty at the scrum.
Confidence is key for players who are still making a name for themselves, and Fasogbon shows it in abundance.
Mako Vunipola touch and kick
Mako Vunipola has become known for a lot of things in a storied career, touch and kicks are not one of those things.
The touch was special, and he trapped the ball in footballer-esque fashion with the inside of his foot, before deftly chipping back to the opposition.
Maybe a late-career position switch to fly-half is on the cards?
Six Nations new logo
Six Nations fans rarely agree on things, apart from the Home Nations when the Lions tour comes around.
The weekend though, they were all united in a mix of disbelief and contempt towards the rebranding of the Six Nations, with a new logo being announced.
Fans have been quick to compare it to a variety of things, such as an original Mars Bar logo, or even Looney Tunes.
Whatever the first thing that comes to mind, it probably isn’t positive and the move has been a source of ridicule from Southern Hemisphere fans too.
Trevor Nyakane scrum
Another prop with a funny moment at the scrum this weekend was Sharks’ Trevor Nyakane, who comedically licked his lips and smiled in full view of the camera.
The incident is made even funnier by the tenseness of the situation, with it being a tight game that the Sharks were being dominated in at scrum time against fellow South Africans Stormers.
He would end the game with a smile on his face, after his side edged a 21-15 win in Durban.
40k crowd for university rugby
In Japan, the crowds are different. 40,544 people turning up to a university game is unfathomable anywhere else in the world, and the only comparison is to American Colleges with Football and Basketball games.
Waseda edged past Meiji 27-24 in front of their partisan home crowd, in a game which is always seen as the biggest in the university fixture list.
It makes varsity matches in the UK look like a one-man-and-his-dog type of event.
READ MORE: Autumn Nations Series grades for each team
