Gavin Henson knocks down Shane Horgan

That is rugby league, not rugby union...

another example of henson's inability to tackle legally. the only one i remember was unfortunatley the tacke on tait.

Wow, people have a better view of the incident from a distant single shot replay than a ref stood 4 yards from the incident? If you say so. ;)

^What he said.From this poor footage, it would appear that Henson made no attempt to wrap. Also, henson is perfectly capable of tackling legally.

Nothing wrong with that, he didn't have time to wrap his arms around before Horgan hit the deck!And im English by the way....

That isn't a tackle thats a shoulder charge no attempt was made to wrap the player up using his arms. Nonetheless good hit and Henson can tackle thats just not an example that proves it.

Absolutely legal , Horgan's bodyposition was poor,shifting sideways at the moment of impact,Henson's BP was ideal,most of the impact came from the shoulder,which is the intent of any tackle i would hope, the arms die wrap around, but let go due to the hit,watch the arms just after Horgan goes backwards.So Barnes,being as close as he was,got it spot on,

that hit would make butch james proud

i say fair play to that hit...horgans one of the dirtiest players around anyway...looked legal enough to me and Barnes said it was fine so just need to let it go...Henson is a very good tackler.He made phil vickery turn the ball over in the first game with a quality tackle...He's having an amazing tournament

quality tackle, nothing wrong with it.

I think it was a legal hit because on the very slow replay you can see Henson wraping around horgans leg, and also he did not have much time before horgan fell to the ground.

Henson went full pelt into him so think it was just due to the speed he went in with rather than if/because he was hit by his shoulder. I was hoping during the game they'd show it on a different angle but they didn't so no-one apart from the ref had a good view so we'll have to take the ref's word for it.Was quite a dirty game really, admittedly most of it (or at least the incidents shown) were because of the welsh. Don't know why but wales vs ireland games are always angry affairs.

one of the anonymous ones up there....horgans one of the dirtiest players around anyway...wer the fuck are you getting that from???also i think it all happened to fast but i was in the ground opposite that hit and he didnt wrap the arms...but again probably due to the speed...henson seems to have a habit of doing this though...i recall him doing it quite often during the lions tour 2005.

When I was watching it live my first reaction was to call it illegal. But Horgan was standing very upright and was almost standing on his back foot which caused him to be knocked back easily. Henson drove the shoulder in making the initial hit but the time he was beginning to wrap Horgan up, Horgan was already on his arse. There was nothing really dangerous about the hit, is was firm, firm but fair. Big hit for a big game. I'm Irish by the way, lets hope it knocked a bit of sense into him. Steady Eddie must go. Shun Edwards for coach!.

"horgans one of the dirtiest players around anyway"Give me two reasons why?And its deffo a shoulder charge and he knew thats why he skips away from the ref after like a little bitch!James.

Lol!Can't back up the "horgans one of the dirtiest players around.." comment with a proper answer, but i (think) remember one occasion where he was punching someone in a ruck, think it was a magners league game. So if i am right i'm guessing that's the reason for that comment.

I think the "skipping away" was henson going back into the defensive line... Want to know why Wales' defence isn't shit?

I think that you are being hard on Henson. As a Welsh man i am of coure biased, but I don't think it was malisious and was not as bad as the Sivivatu tackle below.

If I see it correctly, his left arm is stiff, and held next to his body; thus, a shoulder charge.However, the angle makes it difficult to tell.Maybe Henson was lucky, maybe not... but he's having a great tournament (and I don't like the man!). Whatever Gatland, Edwards and Howley are doing, works!

Henson has a history of shoulder charging and tackling rugby league style. This was illegal but probably unintentional due to Horgan's pace.I'd really like to know what the comment about Horgan being a dirty player is based on ? The only thing i can think off is him knocking over strettle in Croke park when running on to a chip but even that was a grey area. Or the time he got in a fight with that shithead ref (think he's South African) on the Lion's tour. Anybody remeber that ? He said something anti-Irish to Darcy ?Well done Wales you deserved it, Ireland were a disgrace bar Kearney

Good hit. Nothing wrong with this kind of tackling. Should be allowed in Union. League has got it spot on.

Sorry, but that's flat out an illegal tackle. You can even see it without the slow motion. Henson's right arm never leaves his side, i.e. he never attempts to wrap.

CYMRU AM BYTH!GRANDSLAM HERE WE COME!(P.S.LEGAL AZ IT WAZ FUNNY, IT WAZ VERY FUNNY!)

the punching incident was horgan at his dirtiest. Perhpas the guy who dropped it in there meant he's a bit of a cheat sometimes. The ref called horgan a "Pikey" i believe and got appropriately banned for it.

dunno about legal. but it wouldnt be the first time someone's got away with it, Ireland have their fair share of luck.bring on Le Bleus!

I would not be surprised if the ref got it wrong for not penalizing Henson ...What do you expect from Wayne Barnes

Geraint, I know that Wales had its fair share of fouls...and two yellow cards, but I don't think that the "majority" of foul play came from them. Both teams had a couple of incidents at line-outs, but Ireland did its part with Jackman's wholly stupid shoulder into Jones' (I think?) back.I'm not sure, because I didn't take down notes or anything, but it seemed less of a dirty game than the Ireland/Scotland match...I didn't see fists flying wildly in the rucks.I was pretty disappointed watching this game. Ireland had momentum for the first, oh, 25 minutes...But they seemed to give up, and Wales played like a team who knew what they wanted to win.Regarding the clip, I'm not sure if it's a good tackle or not (definitely effective), but there was a moment in the game where Kearney just gave Byrne a hefty shove into touch...not entirely the same situation, but in Kearney's case as well, there was no attempt to wrap his arms around Byrne.

Too distant a shot to tell if its illegal, surely?Anyway, its nothing as bad as some of the hits in the S14 at the moment - certainly not malicious.As for the comment about Henson "skipping" away from the ref like a little bitch - thanks for the laugh; you obviously never played rugby or you would realise what preserving a defensive line is about.

Video is too distant to tell, i was at the match and it didnt look much like his arms tried to get round but the ref was right there so we have to bow to his greater knowledge - even when he's an idiot. As someone has mentioned before it pointless citing this and gettign upset about it as it was far less dangerous than the shoulder barge into the back of Ryan's neck and nothing was done about this. So lets stop faffing and wishWales well on their charge towards the Gland slam, D'acha Cymru!!

Not very legal to me, but not so dirty... it doesnt deserve a yellow card anyway. But OMG how much do i hate Henson's faggot face!! As a frenchman i hope France will break welsh's dreams, and above all close Gatland's mouth!

Shoulder barge.... should have been a penalty to ireland... henson does at least 5 each game.Henson has done close to nothing this tournament.

I wouldn't mind having a "faggot face" if I had 20m in my "shared account". ;)

"Henson's done close to nothing this tournament"....??Don't think that's true, just because he hasn't scored a try or kicked any goals doesn't mean he's done nothing. If he'd done nothing he wouldn't be in the side. His defence apart from 1 or 2 tackles against ireland has been very solid, he's turned the ball over in the tackle area and he's created chances with his passes and a couple of breaks over the gain line.It's fair enough to say he's not the most likeable character but don't think that comment is true at all.

Yeah with solow-mo you can see that it was illegal and a shoulder charge. wshould've been a penalty to Ireland.

Fuck its rugby! the bigger the hits we see the happier we are! in the 70s the tackles like that were allowed so they should be today! it wasnt that dangerous just a quality hit, showing amazing power! i loved it!

cornamonian - i dont think Horgan is 'one of the dirtiest players around' but in the dragons v leinster game this season he was virtually trying to start a fight with every dragons player and was generally lary and OTT, so im quite happy henson put him on his arse.Its quite ironic that after Keith Wood said in the build up that o'driscoll would be looking to 'drive henson into the ground', our tanned friend does just that to one of the boys in green! Ha haYes theres been a lot of nonsense off the field with him but henson is pure class. His defence (eg ripping the ball from vickery) and attack (lovely break leaving wilko for dead) against england, his defence and distribution against jocks and italians and his defence (ripping ball from Leamy who's one of irelands biggest forwards etc) kicking and distribution against ireland.he's been the outstanding inside centre of the 6n and anyone who says otherwise is either blind or just one of the sad and fast becoming extremely boring henson-haters.If theres any celebrated centre thats done nothing this 6n, then its the posh dubliner O'driscoll whos done sod all.

Just because you love it doesn't mean its legal :)How can you say BOD's done sod all ?!!!! Henson'a having a very good 6N and I'm glad to see him settling into the Welsh team but BOD's tackling and overall defence has been immense. Although this could be a bit to do with the lack of suport from Wallace and Leamy.If you haven't seen it you haven't been watching Ireland matches and are just trying to sound like you know what you're talking about.If you have a problem with his perceived social standing well then thats just sad.

generally you guys are fucking stupid.(the ones that apparently believe that mr. henson can't lay out a decent tackle)have you not watched a game of fucking six nations?maybe you should play centre against him?i bet that would be real fun with all his...."should barges"...and thankyou geoff, you are a smart one.

Not as bad as Jackman's on Ryan Jones but then again, that was LEGAL as Jones made not attempt to move from an offside position whereas Henson, though it was due to speed and angle (I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt) it was definitely a penalty but nothing moreDK

i didn't think Jackman's was legal as it was dangerous play and Jones was not part of the ruck.And i'm irish. And i love Jackman !

i think that this tackle is only seen as illegal because you cant see a great attempt from henson to wrap, but then again.. i think that there was little time for him to wrap because look at how quick horgan goes to ground.. didier drogba would be proud!i think given half a second more we couldve seen an attempt to wrap.. good hit, well done wales in all

Guys, its a good hit - plain and simple. its a ball and all tackle, as he gets it he gets hit...

how the hell is wayne barnes even still reffing should be the real question.

Yeah Horgan dived....Anonymous at March 13, 2008 1:56 AM have you ever even played rugby ?Its not legal because henson goes in high with his shoulder

Personally i think it was a legal tackle and a bloody good one at that!One tackle i dont think was legal in the same macth was when Lee Byrne was running up the wing going towards the corner and i think it was the other Irish wing he made no attempt to tackle him just came running in with the shoulder! Dont know if anybody else seen it or not and their views?

No i don't think there was much wrong with that, he just shoved him into touch.

Yeah Keanrey pushed him out. That was legal

It wasn't particularly dangerous, nor should it warrant a yellow, but to say it was legal is just idiotic. it was all shoulder with no intent to wrap Horgan up (the fact that it happened quickly doesn't have any impact). A clear penalty.The one on Byrne was probably a penalty too (from memory, I would have to see it again to be sure).

Horgan is a dirty shit!

you can all shutup you english people!!Henson is the best tackler in Europe he's imense. Tait is a little pufter haha well in wales in the 6 nations! ha scotland beat england LEGENDS!!!

henson is a rockconsisering hes only 6'0" and about 95kgs....he tackles like a beasthead on with henson bad ideabet taits legs are still shakey

What really aggravates me is the total disregard for tackling laws. In recent years I have seen the number of shoulder barges sky rocket. This in itself is a minor aggravation, but the way that the players, such as Henson, who commit these poor "tackles" then swagger off as if they are world class defenders.

Gavin Henson is the epitome of border line, aggressive defence!! At times this is an uncompromising sport & the laws are there to protect, but sometimes you're gona get smashed!! Which is what, I believe, the majority of the viewers enjoy about rugby, aswell as the skill. Let's remember though.... It's rugby, not bloody pussy football!!

That is why Wales need him back ASAP. Big hits along with sublime rugby skills come back Gav!

I think all you guys have got this so wrong!! Horgan, realising it was Henson in front of him, deliberately threw himself onto the ground. He obviously didn't fancy being covered with fake skin tan as well as a smattering of cheap hair dye!. Right?

Actually, I would agree with the last contributor. If I were in the same situation I would do similar. Enjoy your time in France Mr Henson and take your time coming back.....

Hey guys. I think you lot will find that if you go onto the Try savers and rib breakers 11 video it shows a different angle of this hit at 35 seconds.

An what do you know he does wrap his arms around because when he hits him he has picked up is left leg from the ground with his right arm. If that is not an attempt to wrap your arms around I dunno what is?

Damn don't you hate it when your wrong?