Felipe Contepomi had a bit of a nightmare first start at flyhalf for Stade Francais in the Top 14 last weekend. An earlier knock to the head clearly affected his thinking with time running out. Here’s a look at what happened, as well as the two great tries.
Stade Francais hadn’t had a win in their last six visits, while Toulouse were been unbeaten at home. Contepomi, who played at center the week before, moved to number ten for his new club, who themselves had a host of new signings and had the home side under pressure with little time left.
As the forwards drove it up, the platform was set to go left or right, with a converted try the only way to get the win with the score set at 18-12. Contepomi ended up on the pocket, with plenty of time to choose his route of attack.
Instead though, he opted for the Matt Dunning approach to winning games, and slotted a dropgoal. The fist-punch to the sideline signalled his joy, before closer inspection revealed the looks of horror on the coaching staff and other players faces. By the time he had realised his error, the fulltime whistle went, and Toulouse won the game 18-15.
We chatted briefly to Luke McAlister earlier, opposing flyhalf, and he was as shocked and amused as anyone. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw him sitting in the pocket. I thought they had some special move planned haha,” he said.
Contepomi later admitted that he had miscalculated the score and thought that they only required two points for the win. He took a knock on the head earlier in the match, which probably explains this absolute shocker. How he failed to check the massive scoreboard, only he knows.
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