Hilarious Olympic moment in rugby sevens event sees Uruguay’s Mateo Vinals tackle the REFEREE instead of Kenya’s Samuel Asati

  • Kenya defeated Uruguay in an Olympic rugby sevens match at the Stade de France
  • During the match, Uruguayan Mateo Vinals tackled referee Paulo Duarte
  • Vinals wanted to tackle Samuel Asati, but the referee stood between them

The rugby sevens match between Kenya and Uruguay at the Paris Olympics on Thursday saw an incredible moment when one of the players tackled the referee.

The hilarious incident occurred in the second half, just before Samuel Asati scored the second of three goals for Kenya.

As Asati picked up the ball and shot towards the goal line, Uruguay’s Mateo Vinals pounced on his opponent.

Unfortunately for Vinals, Portuguese referee Paulo Duarte was among the players and he was the one brought down by what was in fact an excellent tackle.

The match was broadcast by the BBC and the commentary team was bewildered.

Uruguay’s Mateo Vinals (centre) tackled referee Paulo Duarte (second from right) instead of Kenya’s Samuel Asati (right) during a men’s rugby sevens match at the Paris Olympics.

Asati jumps over the try line as referee Duarte (bottom left) watches from the ground

Asati jumps over the try line as referee Duarte (bottom left) watches from the ground

Duarte had already been brought down moments earlier by a tackle apparently intended for Asati

Duarte had already been brought down moments earlier by a tackle apparently intended for Asati

Vinals (third from left) tried to grab Asati (left) but instead got the referee with a nice lasso tackle

This incident led to Kenya's second try of the match

Vinals (third from left) tried to grab Asati (left) but instead got the referee with a nice lasso tackle

One commentator said: ‘I’ve never seen that before. I’ve never seen a perfect execution of a lasso tackle on the referee.’

Kenya eventually won the match 19-14. This was effectively a semi-final, but neither side was in contention for the medals.

Both teams had finished bottom of their respective groups and therefore entered a four-team knockout tournament to determine their final ranking.

Kenya’s win will see them play Samoa on Saturday to determine who will finish ninth. Uruguay will face Japan. These teams will have to fight to avoid finishing in twelfth and last place.