Spanish Hakas, Glasweigan Kisses and a Pissed off Frenchman

Its getting closer th the weekend and the rugby is creeping up on us once again. The Super 15 takes a break for a month but we have the June Internationals to keep us from twiddling our thumbs. Judging by Scotland's surprise victory over Australia in the driving rain, anything is possible. Who would have picked the Tri Nations champions to lose to the Six Nations wooden spooners after all?

Until then though, Dumptackle Rugby Blog brings you some of the more quirky happenings from this week. We divulge on poorly thought through Scottish celebrations, Spanish hakas and the best play of the week. What more could you want?


Spanish Hakas

The Amsterdam Sevens may not be the most prestigious tournament in the rugby calendar, but those who turned up were treated to a bit of a gem.... probably 2012's most comic rugby moment so far.

The Spanish team created their own personal pre-match ritual as they mimicked the All Blacks with their own rendition of the Haka. Comic bum wiggling and macarena-esque jigs didn't quite instil the same sense of fear in the opposition that the indimidating 'Ka Mate' can, but it made just as big an impression on the spectators. Once the crowd realised what was going on, they went into rapture. Spanish Sevens, take a bow.....

As an afternote, there has been a lot of press surrounding how to respond to NZ's haka in recent years. Sometimes one feels it has even overshadowed the rugby (especially when the AB's ended up performing it in their dressing room one year as a protest against Welsh officials). I'm a huge fan of it still...it's great drama, but lets not over-emphasise it's importance. It's just a bit of theatrics, much the same as the National Anthems.



Glasweigan Kisses

What's the best way to celebrate a historic test win down under; Scotland's first since 1982?

Nutting your team-mate according to the Scots.

 As farcical as the actual rugby ended up being on the day, their poorly thought through celebrations capped it all off, as their enthusiasm and unbridled joy turned into what can only be described as chaos. Probably not the 'chaos' Andy Robinson had called for prior to the game either....

It all kicked off after Greg Laidlaw's last ditch penalty went over. His team mates naturally erupted around him in the middle of the park, causing an old school pile-on, engulfing the young fly-half in the process.  Joe Ansbro and  Ally Strokosch continued the animated celebrations by leapfrogging over them from either side, resulting in a rather nasty head clash. If only their attacking patterns had similarly exquisite timing....

Strokosch later commented on twitter that Ansbro had 'apparantly split him to the bone', while Ansbro seemed to come off even worse; leaving the field for stitches straight away. Strokosch went on to validate the 'Glasweigan kiss':

 'We are hard in Scotland. This is how we celebrate!'. Take a look for yourself below.

Play of the Week

The Top 14 semi-finals were pretty uneventful to say the least. No tries in 160 minutes of football is a sad indictment of the conservatism which has overtaken the flair once so synonymous with french rugby. Nonetheless, there was one piece of genius which should be brought to the attention of the masses.

Vincent Clerc has been known for his ability to sniff out a try or two in the last decade, but the little Toulouse winger can add another skill to his already impressive repetoire. The 'Bear-Hug' tackle!

Watch the video below to see the French international pull of a seemingly impossible tackle on Max Evans once already over the whitewash, preventing a game-changing try. Unfortunately for Toulouse, his teammate then went on to pick the ball up from an off-side position. He was naturally yellow carded. Vincent must have been pretty f***ed off eh?