Watch the moment seagull joins Scotland attack at Murrayfield and narrowly avoids nasty collision

The seagull was eventually carried off the Scottish Gas Murrayfield pitch by a member of the ground staff.

Scotland briefly had an extra body on the pitch to help them during their Summer Nations Series match against Italy – in the shape of a seagull.

In the early stages of the match at Scottish Gas Murrayfield, the brave bird – whose white crest matched the home team’s shirts – decided to become a part of the attack as Scotland looked to open the scoring, joining the hosts’ backline.

The foray on to the field almost ended in disaster for the winger, though, with second row Sam Skinner having to show the nimbleness of a high jumper to vault over the bird, who by this point was an inconvenience and a danger to itself.

Thankfully for all involved, the seagull managed to avoid an HIA assessment and flew off into the Edinburgh sky, with cheers from the entertained crowd ringing round the stadium. The bird minutes later, however, landed on the pitch again, with a member of the Murrayfield ground staff coming to remove it with a blanket.

The video embedded in the tweet – or by clicking the link here – shows the moment Skinner had to avoid the gull.