Eben Etzebeth showed his impressive rugby IQ to outsmart Joe Marler as the South Africa lock crossed for a genius score last weekend.
The incident occurred in the Champions Cup fixture between Harlequins and Cell C Sharks in London. It has since become one of the most viewed rugby videos on TikTok this week, with almost one million views in three days.
In what has become a main feature in the modern-day game, Harlequins formed a caterpillar at the back of a ruck, with scrum-half Danny Care moving the ball back through the legs of the protecting players.
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Marler was at the back, with his arm placed on tight head prop Wilco Louw. As Care shaped up to box-kick, Etzebeth peeled around the side of the caterpillar and stole the ball from the England No.9 as he protested to referee Nika Amashukeli.
However, no whistle came and all 6ft 8in and 18st of Springbok power made a solitary charge to the whitewash to complete a quite bizarre score.
The South Africa lock was allowed to perform the steal simply because Marler lost his bind with the ruck. He only had his arm placed on the back of Louw, and needed to be bound by his shoulder instead, so technically speaking the ball was out.
You can watch the video below.
In classic Marler fashion, he later fired back at Etzebeth during the match. In a similar caterpillar scenario, Marler had his shoulder pressed right up against the man in front, and pointed at his shoulder and then at Etzebeth while talking to the Springbok big man, who was laughing and smiling in response.
The game finished 39-29 to Harlequins, with the English side securing a knockout match against DHL Stormers. Despite their loss, Sharks finished third in Pool A, and will face Munster in the round of 16.
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