Poor Kosuke Hashino. It was meant to be a great occasion topped off by a wonderful finish, but instead the Japanese flyer showed us what can go wrong when attempting a swallow dive. He's not the first, nor the last who will succumb to a bit of showboating.
Japan became the first Asian nation to qualify as a core team in the HSBC Sevens World Series after they beat Italy 26-5 in Hong Kong on Sunday. The qualifiers featured 12 teams all vying for a spot on the prestigious world series, which takes place over nine rounds each year.
As with Carlin Isles' debut in fifteens, this was to be a memorable occasion for a number of reasons, as Kosuke Hashino's blooper left shocked viewers gob smacked.
With an opportunity for a runaway try, Hashino looked to seal the victory in style with a big swallow dive, similar to the kind of showboating/celebrating/showmanship (your choice) often seen by England wing Chris Ashton, but got it horribly wrong.
While Ashton is yet to mess up (unlike Juan Leguizamon a few years back), Hashino lept into the air spectacularly, but left the ball behind. Luckily the win was already a sure thing so he didn't cost his side anything but a few blushes.
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