Rugby fans make the Earth move

Rugby fans in France moved the Earth when their team won the championship – with earthquake monitors recording their every cheer.

Seismometers at an earth science laboratory in Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne, jumped each time the fans did – and went crazy at the end of a frantic match against Toulon when the ASM club captain Damien Chouly lifted the Bouclier de Brennus trophy after winning 22-16.

Jean-Michel Douchain of the Ecole et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre told Franceinfo that geologists first noticed the effects when Clermont winger Alivereti Raka scored a try after an 80m run at Stade de France in Paris.

A mini-earthquake was spotted that centred on the Place de Jaude in Clermont where ticketless fans were gathered.

But towards the end of the match the jumping fans sent the seismograph pen scratching as it recorded their excitement of finally winning a trophy just a month after losing in the European Champions Cup to English team Saracens.

Clermont have been on the losing side in the Top 14 championship final 11 times out of 12 and a penalty by scrum-half and man of the match Morgan Parra gave them the winning score. When the final whistle went the seismometer kept jumping for a large part of the night.