Henry Tuilagi absolutely smashes Ben Foden

BOOM!

I feel like it's probably legal, but I dont think it would be good if we saw players tackling like this often.

Anyway, sweet hit. Smashed! :)

He got rocked!
legal i reckon, and good to watch. but i agree if it happened alot people would be having little 10 minute stints on the sideline.

Perfectly legal as far as I can see. Just a good honest smash!

Perfectly legal, his arm was coming round he just hit him that hard that he was on the floor before he had chance to get his arms anywhere near.

Absolutly great shot.

Schalk Burger also did a huge one on the weekend

Great Hit, looked a bit dodgey.. but hey if somebody did it to me i'd say good hit afterwards.

Any chance of some dragons highlights on here RD.. does anyone know how they played?

Burger's tackle was better :p

legal hit and a fucking awesome one at that

Commentator is wrong - great hit. I don't want rugby to become a poof ball game because it needs to be played by honest hard men. If you allow the footballer type player to come in, then you end up have a few wendy ball *cough**COHEN**cough* dives and the like.

completely ilegal no arms disgusting should have been at least a yellow if not a red card


ps come on you saints

Wouldn't expect anything less from an islander. Probably played LEAGUE (SHUDDER) in his youth. Burger's tackle (and I do mean tackle, a legal hit) was far more impressive.

its illegal, but not a yellow... just a typical case of a big guy smashing a little lad

funny when vickery leads with a shoulder and makes no wrap its a great hit...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGpgZv61Jss

but when solid islanders put them in its illegal and should be a yellow.

see tuilagi example and this george stowers one below both of which compare with vickery's effort if not surpass it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjI_hFY4Ci8

fark right off english twat commentators no wonder people hate you tit headed bias mugs.

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Nah that's cool. This ain't a pussy sport!!!

Sad it's not the French commentators, big scream by French commentators Thomas Lombard when the hit comes :p

Nice to see the French clip ...

Schalk Burgers one in this weeks currie cup semi final against bulls was perfection if i ever saw it

Legal...

Link for Burger's tackle plz?

Legal...just. I say that as an English person. It's one of those where the hit is so hard, there's no point in the tackler wrapping the arms round because the guy's already bounced off him and fallen. As an England man I can't really say this is illegal and I'm surprised Dewi Morris takes such a strong line against it, but at the same time, with hits like this seemingly becoming more commonplace, is it any wonder that the number of injuries players are suffering is increasing every season?

He was trying to wrap his arms but as the guy above me said Foden few back so quickly that it made it look illegal. Great hit nontheless and legal.

Btw I always hear talk of these Tuilagi brothers making monster hits but are they even good players? Does the no8 one steal ball? Does the winger one score tries? Just interested to know because constant big hits isn't what makes a good rugby player, big hits don't score points and therefore don't win matches.

and please post burger's hit, I was at Newlands it was way better than this.

I think his is perfectly legal. I don't think Tuilagi meant not to arm wrap but that he can't moving at that pace & with that amount of power. If he could & did arm wrap would the tackle have been any less devastating? I think not. It irritates me when commentators sit on there high horses about this type of thing, merely because they've been told to condemn supposed illegal play. When they were playing they would have been proud of such a hit or would have marveled at the spectacle of a team mate doing the same. Some commentator needs to perk up, put his balls on the line & say "that was a fucking massive hit, which I thoroughly enjoyed whether or not it was legal!"

Besides Mike this has been one of the most sensisble comments list for any videos.
Hit was 100% legit, foden flew away before he could wrap.
Physicality is part of rugby and there isnt anything wrong with this.

Awesome!!!!
LEGAL hit!!!!

Should be legal aye ... reckon he made an attempt to wrap his arms around Foden ... JMO

Jeeze he definately deserved a penalty if he had gone to ground with foden he would have been fine. or at least unclenched his fists wen he hit the him. he really didnt want to make it look like a tackle.

That one is close, but it's all shoulder when you look at it. Was the attempt to wrap there? Not as much as some would like to think.

I think he had his arms out wide to impede the pass, but that left his shoulder open - I think that should have been a card.

it just looked like the big guy having a good solid and LEGAL tackle on the small one.
his arm was going around him anyways, the small one just fell first.

The commentator's an idiot, he barely even looked at it and said it was a shoulder. He'd already decided it was.
It was a good hit, should be applauded. The arms went round and Foden got smashed by a much bigger man.
When Rogers got hit in a similar tackle no one had a problem.

No attempt to wrap arms around the player, only the shoulder was used.......illegal hit.

Great hit, no way this should be called illegal. Foden was down before Tuilagi has a chance to wrap him up

Well he should be cited and then we will get a proper decision.

not legal didn't even atempt to get his arms round!

There is no doubt the hit was legal, i am sorry to all you supposed rugby 'fans' but the game is a contact sport, and hits are getting harder and harder.

Its the way of the game, you get hit, you might get hurt, you get afterward )if you can) up and play.

Please stop moaning about hard hits.

I like watching hard and painful hits, if there legal. Takes more skill to hit someone and to keep them on the floor. Any large idiot can bash someone over.

You have to follow the rules, if you say you can charge people your saying you can eye gouge and kick etc.

great hit! Don't know what the commentator is talking about...

Sport is all about manipulation of the rules, and seeing how far you can limit test officials to give you an edge. That has always been standard throughout the ages, in all aspects of sport and life.

To deem a hit illegal, no attempt to wrap, is what the officials are looking for. All Ruggers know this.

Tuilagi, attempted to manipulate the rules and push the envelope a bit, by giving the appearence he attempted to wrap. I don't believe he ever intended to.

Regardless, loved the hit.

How naive to think that just because he's brought his arms out in front of him that he is genuinally trying to tackle him! He did that to make it look like he was about to tackle him then he did the good old shoulder smash and got away with it. A yellow card needed to discourage that sort of behaviour. Why is that 95% of the time players can wrap their arms round to tackle and this time he gets away with it because he's a bigger man. Dangerous play.

Spot on JohnF (Y)

Ugh, I'm so sick of this machismo stupidity. Every time a hit like this comes up you get a bunch of people saying "Perfectly fine, I don't want rugby to turn sissy". It isn't illegal because he hit Foden hard, it's illegal because he made no attempt whatsoever to wrap his arms. You can see him actually move his arms *away* from Foden as soon as he hits him. There's nothing wrong with a good hard hit, but if you want to just bash into people without following the laws of tackling, go play gridiron.

This is legal. The initial contact just bounces him away from the arms that are coming around. This is NOT a shoulder charge...and I'm English! He was also commited to the challenge while Foden had the ball...it was not late.

It's an illegal hit and Foden still got his pass away.

Just because his arm comes out doesn't mean he was trying to wrap. That was an illegal hit if I ever saw one. His arms comes out, but he never tries to wrap them around Foden.

Would of been a fantastic hit, but it is illegal, so it's not.

It looked perfectly legal to me he was gonna wrap but the guy had already hit the deck, come on people this is rugby.

The wrapping rule is ridiculous anyway. It makes no sense and needs removing from the game.

This hit was fantastic. I don't care if he wrapped or not. The wrapping rule never has and never will make sense. It's only there to protect softies.

Yes, hats off to Foden for getting his pass away. Still think the tackle was illegal.

I think it's a shoulder, illegal and intentional, so I would go for a yellow card. these tackles are far dangerous. You could smash a small guy, and that's ok, that's rugby, but in this case Tuilagi actually smashes Foden just because he goes for a shoulder, not for a big legal hit.

From the replay, I would say that Tuilagi is already committed to the tackle when foden passes the ball away. So it is not late.

But, I would say that Tuilagi noticed that he could not wrap his arms around the ball anymore, so he goes for a shoulder.

In particular, I think he could wrap at least his left arm around Foden.

Legal. Tuilagi made an attempt to wrap. If you look around :37 his left arm is all the way around at Foden's hip and his right hand is past the numbers on his jersey. Foden just bounced back so far that HT didnt have a chance to wrap.

Fair tackle - the arms came round, but not quick enough to catch him before he hit the floor, such was the force of the tackle!

As a professional rugby player who is gay it really pisses me off to see comments like "we don't want it turning in to poof ball" - I hate that bigotted, small-brained idiocy, and I don't know why comments like that aren't deleted. There's plenty of gay/bi rugby players, just like there are plenty of gays in every other walk of life - it's just people don't realise it cos we keep our mouths shut. And I could probably kick your arse Matthew I'm a professional number 8. Idiot.

^ Nice to see Pierre Spies commenting on here. Who would have thought. :P

Seriously though, fair point. I think it shouldnt be taken to heart though and terms like that are used for lack of a better word.

It's about connotations I guess, and unfortunately gay people are generally thought of as soft. Then again, straight people are probably thought of as ignorant.. :)

poeple who are slagging of cohen saying hes a pussy for going down so easy...if you were hit with 125kg solid muscle id like to see ye jumping back to your feet quick.

but good legal hit.

good. legal. hit. no question.

It's a card, no attemp to wrap it isn't that dangerous or anything but if you go by the books no attempt to wrap= card

Agree with most of the rest of the comments - LEGAL*.
It's hits like this that make me want to play and watch rugby. its awesome.

*according to the laws of the game - should and arms wrapping etc - this could be judged illegal. the problem for me in this case is with the laws because if we stop hits like this then we are stopping people from tackling as hard as they can - tuilagi would have had to slow up before making the tackle!
ridiculous.

Also I agree with anonymous - matthew, there is no need for the homophobic comments.

Agree with most of the rest of the comments - LEGAL*.
It's hits like this that make me want to play and watch rugby. its awesome.

*according to the laws of the game - should and arms wrapping etc - this could be judged illegal. the problem for me in this case is with the laws because if we stop hits like this then we are stopping people from tackling as hard as they can - tuilagi would have had to slow up before making the tackle!
ridiculous.

Also I agree with anonymous - matthew, there is no need for the homophobic comments.

legal - good hit

Everyone is saying Foden was down before he could rap his arms around.. If thats the case then penalty. Thats means he led with his shoulder and hit with it and then went to rap his arms around Foden after flattening him. You are meant to lead with your arms and hit with your shoulder. But I love the hit legal or not, everyone likes to see a good bosh now and then!

Great hit! we don't see this often in portugal.

If a player is responsible for putting a player down safely when he dump tackles him, why is he not when he goes for a conventional tackle? If you try to hit a guy backwards like that you could do real damage. Of course big hits are great, but the impact of Tuilagi hitting the guy is more dangerous than a controlled tackle where he wraps round and is in control of the hit.

If you want spectacular hits why don't we just let Tuilagi pick the guy up and see how far he can throw him? It's ridiculous.

for everyone saying this is a shoulder charge look at a league shoulder charge where they drop there arm to their side and go into the hit sideways, this was an amazing tackle and he was perfectly square, every tackle made in rugby is pretty much with the shoulder, wether he put his hand around him to touch his back is completely trivial and doesnt effect the impact of the tackle. if it were an english player he would have been applauded for his efforts

wrapping schmapping

The arm wrap rule is about stopping people bracing their arm, turning in and leading with the point of the shoulder. The wrapping of arms after impact does squat all to reduce the force.

Leading with an open arm and shoulder like this is not illegal, its how you tackle.

Keep the polemic to spears and eye-goughing and leave good, legal hits alone.

He didn't use the point of his shoulder, he used the top. Just a good hard hit. Might have got a call for not attempting to wrap, but not worth a card.

That commentator is a tool, looked like a great booming tackle.

What do we want tackles to become a little cuddle and a nice lie down, maybe a bit of spooning?

Rules of the game are that you must wrap your arms around the person whom you are tackling.....

He doesnt therefore it is an illegal hit....Whether he meant to wrap his arms or not is completely irrelevent because he didnt.....

BTW just because his arms are outstretched does not mean that he intended to wrap...Dont be so gullible people....his elbows weren't even bent to try and wrap so there was no attempt to wrap....

I like big hits as much as the next guy and hey, if they changed the rules to league then I'd be fine with a hit like this..But rules are there for a reason and when someone breaks them they deserve to penalised.

"completely ilegal no arms disgusting should have been at least a yellow if not a red card


ps come on you saints"

yet another biased GP fan, tremendous hit by the big man and legal too.

When Rogers got dropped by Lewsey in virtually the same way (smaller players of course), no one had a problem, thought it was great.
When Banahan does it again it's fine with everyone.
As it should be.
Why is it a problem when Tuilagi does it?
As a neutral this just looks like a great hit on a smaller player. Part of the game and a great part.

Wake up lads , its an illegal dangerous tackle . There is a dsiguised attepmt at a wrap around with the arms . Its illegal

I dunno...I sort of get the impression that he could possibly have maintained contact with his arms throughout the tackle.

But, not high, not late, certainly not a no-arm shot...benefit of the doubt.

And on balance I also reckon the hit was just the hard that Foden was out of the contact zone immediately after it happened hence he couldn't wrap his arms.

No penalty no card is the right call...if I was reffing I would get over to him at the next downtime and ask him to make sure and always make a proper effort to wrap his arms when tackling, but that's all.

perfectly legit hit on the most over-rated player in england

this is typical of english commentators....so boring! they should have gone mental and applauded such a monster hit, no wonder people prefer football to rugby in this country, theres so much more passion and excitement from the crowd and especially commentators. and who gives a crap if it was legal or not cos shoulder charges should be legal anyway cos theyre sweet to watch, make the game more fun, and if u cant handle them u arent a pro rugby player

this is typical of english commentators....so boring! they should have gone mental and applauded such a monster hit, no wonder people prefer football to rugby in this country, theres so much more passion and excitement from the crowd and especially commentators. and who gives a crap if it was legal or not cos shoulder charges should be legal anyway cos theyre sweet to watch, make the game more fun, and they can handle them, theyre tough boys!

Anyone who says this is a legal hit hasn't cracked open the laws in a good while. No attempt to wrap at all, the 'he hit him so hard he didn't have time' or 'carding this will make players hit softer' comments are not only completely untrue, they're stupid. Watch Todd Clever or Chabal hit someone while wrapping and tell me they'll hit soft or don't have time to wrap. The problem with this hit isn't how hard it was, but that it just wasn't a legal hit, if he'd wrapped up it would have been genius.

"The wrapping rule is ridiculous anyway. It makes no sense and needs removing from the game."

If you don't like it, go watch league, the rest of us enjoy a rugby match that doesn't look like lobotomized American football.

if he was pinged for this it would be a disgrace. very good hit and the ATTEMPT to wrap.. the commentator is saying "he lead with the arm" well isnt that clear then that the arm is there for a purpose. leading with the shoulder - now THATS not a tackle (in this dimension of rugby), but the commentator has this all wrong, good hit, attempt to wrap but to much impact prevented the wrap, people should be leniant with this kind of thing.

smash boom!!!!!! better than burgers hit by a mile

Agree^^
Legal hit and a cracking one, also agree that the rules are meant to be manipulated and HT has done it very well. No penalty or card necessary maybe a quiet word with him at the next stop play. Typical english biased boring commentators wheres the passion? Much better hit than Schalks on FDP.

p.s roloart92 sounds like a fanny

'Perfectly legal, his arm was coming round he just hit him that hard that he was on the floor before he had chance to get his arms anywhere near.'
That is what i was thinking. He smashed him so hard he didnt even have time put his arms around him. Maybe a bit careless but no malice involved there. Maybe ref could have let him of with a warning,,

da best tackle ever chooohoooo! Ben Foden should be happy he still get to keep his head intact:)

I know for a fact that anyone sugesting a player should 'lead witht heir arms' either doesn't play rugby, has never played rugby or just has no idea how to tackle properly.
If you try and stand in the way of a 120kg Tongan no 8 and use your bloody arms to stop him, you gonna get knocked the f--- out of the way.
No one can do enough weights to get arms strong enough to stop a proffesional rugby player.
When you tackle, the first thing you get taught is to hit the guy with the point of your shoulder. You're trying to channel all your weight and power through your shoulder into the guy's chest or ribcage.
It's the only way to get enough power to stop a decent player.
The arms rule is dumb, because it means absolutley nothing.
Wrapping a guy up does nothing to help him, it doesn't make it safer at all. In fact if you smash a bloke (with your shoulder, obviously, since it's the only way you can) and then wrap him up and land on him on the ground you're just hurting him even more really, cuz your landing on him.
The wrap rule has nothing to do with this crap, it's about swtopping people doing league style shoudler charges, which look nothing like this.
A propoer shoudler charge (this is defiantley not one - go watch a game of league and se for yourself) involves hitting a guy side on, with your arms tucked in (kind of folded across your chest).
I've done them and had them done to me and they are really no different to a normal tackle, becasue the force you get hit with is basically the same, and your getting hit by the shoulder either way.
Anyway, Tuilagi put his arms round the guy, he doesn't have to give him a cuddle for it to count.

I know for a fact that anyone sugesting a player should 'lead witht heir arms' either doesn't play rugby, has never played rugby or just has no idea how to tackle properly.
If you try and stand in the way of a 120kg Tongan no 8 and use your bloody arms to stop him, you gonna get knocked the f--- out of the way.
No one can do enough weights to get arms strong enough to stop a proffesional rugby player.
When you tackle, the first thing you get taught is to hit the guy with the point of your shoulder. You're trying to channel all your weight and power through your shoulder into the guy's chest or ribcage.
It's the only way to get enough power to stop a decent player.
The arms rule is dumb, because it means absolutley nothing.
Wrapping a guy up does nothing to help him, it doesn't make it safer at all. In fact if you smash a bloke (with your shoulder, obviously, since it's the only way you can) and then wrap him up and land on him on the ground you're just hurting him even more really, cuz your landing on him.
The wrap rule has nothing to do with this crap, it's about swtopping people doing league style shoudler charges, which look nothing like this.
A propoer shoudler charge (this is defiantley not one - go watch a game of league and se for yourself) involves hitting a guy side on, with your arms tucked in (kind of folded across your chest).
I've done them and had them done to me and they are really no different to a normal tackle, becasue the force you get hit with is basically the same, and your getting hit by the shoulder either way.
Anyway, Tuilagi put his arms round the guy, he doesn't have to give him a cuddle for it to count.

borderline, if foden weighed more then he would have rode the tackle better and the tackler would have got his arms round, its just the fact foden bounced off so quickly tuilangi couldnt get his arms round quickly enough. you could see he was trying.

absolutely text book, just a shame foden bounced off

NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT TACKLE AT ALL!! COMMENTATOR DOESNT KNOW WHAT HES TALKING ABOUT. THE ARM WAS CLEARLY COMING AROUND TO WRAP FODEN UP, BUT FODEN WAS ON THE GROUND BEFORE TUILAGI HAD A CHANCE TO DO SO. THIS IS RUGBY, NOT TIDDLYWINKS!! HARDEN UP!

Let's be honest, the comentator is upset because he's English and the player gettin hit is English.

Absolutely illegal. That left arm is just hanging there.

Were he trying to make a tackle, the left arm would be up. Instead he is going for the hit first, and then tackle second.

Deserves a ban.

maybe his arm "was coming up", but it certainly wasn't getting there until some time the following week..

which was about when Foden got up and said "where am I"

Cheyanqui you're on another planet mate.
You must be a terrible defender.

not legal, n15 don`t have the ball in is hand`s. Last time that i see that is ilegal.

No it isn't ilegal, Tuialagi was commited to the tackle and Foden got it away as he was being hit. If they called that a penalty there would be twenty five penalties a game for the same thing.
Ridiculous, go play some rugby, then come back and we'll talk.

if you don't like them hits then you don't like rugby and respect is ferocious qualities... go play soccer if it makes you think that was illegal, look at league tackles to understand what a bad tackle in union looks like.

rosetinted both the examples you've given are legitimate tackles, vickery has his arm around the man and is bringing the other round as he hits the deck and stowers also leads with the arm but makes first contact with the shoulder

tuilagi leads with the shoulder and moves his arms forward as a result of the impact, in a tackle your arms come forward first then your shoulder makes the hit, look at wilko's hit on ntamack, or lima's famous shot on hougaard, arms are forward at the point of impact the shoulder makes the hit.

i love a good big hit but this was not legal and probs deserved a yellow card, however some of his other tackles where he's got carded hav been harsh...swings and roundabouts

My word Rosetinted, what a fool you make of yourself in your pathetic display of anti-English hatred.

The Vickery tackle was perfectly legal. Anyone can see that. He wrapped his arms properly - that's why he's still got a hold of him as he lands.

Rose-tinted? More like blind.

Not a legal hit...we don't need to see rugby going this way. Tuilagi should have been sent off for this tackle; it runs against the spirit of sportsmanship that the charter of the game describes. That was a tackle without control and he needs to bend his knees a bit and fall with the tackler. That was a crap American football tackle, and not needed in the game.

I am so disappointed to see this ruling. Rugby is a hard hitting contact sport and anyone who says this tackle is illegal is a puss. Who cares if you "wrap" your arms, if he had gone down with the guy, then there would have been no penalty.

He hit him, he went down. it was a solid shoulder challenge and deserves an applause. i get called for this is the US all the time and I'm from Scotland. the refereeing is over the top bull s***. toughen up ladies and get in the game.

ilegal hit, he didn't close his arms!
but it's a huge sholder charge...

Great hit, serves him right for turning sideways on to a monster like that!

Muted!!!

Well I think Foden did well to get a good tackle away with that monster Tuilagi coming straight at him.

Commentator lost all credibility with: "That is a shoulder charge, spear charge, whatever"... What!!
"Spear charge"??? LOL.

I mean Foden got a good PASS away under pressure.

What's with all the sissy-rugby fans?! What happened that you guys don't appreciate a proper hard tackle anymore??? Did your mind go along with the IRB's rule-panel on tackling? cause that was a sweeeeeet hit.
AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN!!!!!!!

to wrap your arms around someone, you have to have him there. foden was on the ground. all this talk about the arms was wide and the fist was clanched. you guys everplayed????Do you know about dislocated shoulders. Stop being fagotts...pick yourself up and crack on. I hate english commentators...try and listen to southern hemesphere ones.

100!!

Foden's a big boy. He gave give it, he can take it. Anyone who saw his hit on Al Kellock last Six Nations will know that Foden can throw his weight around too.