WATCH: BIZARRE scenes as own goal conversion proves incredibly costly

Jared Wright
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Screenshots from the video from the Gala Wanderers v Hawick Youth game in Scotland

Screenshots from the video from the Gala Wanderers v Hawick Youth game in Scotland.

Own goals are fairly common in football, and this weekend, it seems we have stumbled upon rugby’s first own conversion.

The randomly bizarre incident happened at the end of a game in the Scottish Borders between Gala Wanderers and Hawick Youth.

Gala Wanderers had scored a last-minute try and had a shot at goal to seal a draw.

The kicker looked to have missed the attempt completely, with the ball falling short and wide.

Hawick began to celebrate the win as the ball was still in the air, with their scrum-half rushing out and jubilantly volleying the ball before it touched the ground.

His connection with the ball sent it flying over the crossbar, with the touch judge behind the posts left a bit puzzled.

The video of the incident has since gone viral on X, formerly Twitter.

In the clip, the referee explains his decision to one of the coaches, saying that it was effectively the same thing as tapping the ball over with your hands.

He then awarded the conversion to Gala, which was the final passage of the game with the result reading: Full-time score: Gala Wanderers 33-33 Hawick Youth.

Reaction to the decision

Former Test referee Nigel Owens confirmed on X that the official got the decision correct.

The Rugby Referee Network explained the reasoning for the decision.

“Blimey. Good decision Mr Ref: Law 8.4: For any goal to be successful, the ball must be kicked over the crossbar and between the goal posts without first touching a team-mate or the ground. Law 8.17: “If the opposition touches the ball and the kick is successful, the goal stands,” their post read.

Former Scottish international referee Malcolm Changleng was the man with the whistle for the match.

He posted about the decision after the match.

He wrote: “Thank you to Gala RFC for the invite to ref the U18 derby v Hawick. I only wanted a quiet day at the office, but the final play has gone viral with 1.7 million views in a day! Lucky I had TMO ( video ref) experience!”

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