The practice of throwing one of the second rows up into the air under a team's posts to try and prevent penalty goals from going over the crossbar has finally drawn the ire of one coach, Glasgow's Richie Dixon. This recent phenomenon where two players hold a team-mate in the air, usually over the height of a crossbar, is becoming increasingly popular. Glasgow lost a Heineken European Cup match against Montferrand because the latter's French international Olivier Magne (above) was hoisted skywards and able to deflect a long range James McLaren penalty away from the target.

Dixon declared: "There is nothing to stop it being done under the current laws but I would like to see it looked at. After all the object of a penalty kick is for a player to kick the ball over the bar and James was achieving that." Magne's late, decisive try won't have lightened Dixon's mood.