Thursday, December 17, 2009
Lee Thomas crunching hit on Will Skinner

With all the focus on match highlights in recent times, we tend to neglect an aspect of rugby that we know many of you love to watch over and over again - the big hit.
While there's been many this year, we haven't featured them all here as individual clips, but material for our next compilation vid is building up nicely.
In fact there's more than enough hits now, there's just a lack of time. But we're working on it, and Try Savers & Rib Breakers 11 should be on the way within the next few months.
A tackle that I've received a number of requests for is this bone-crunching hit from Sale's Lee Thomas on Harlequins' Will Skinner in their recent meeting at The Stoop.
It was a great game of rugby, and if you haven't caught the highlights yet, be sure to check them out in the related links below, as both sides scored a few great tries.
This hit by Sale centre, Thomas, rocked Skinner to the point that he needed to take a few minutes to recover from a serious case of having the wind knocked out of him. To his credit, that's all it was, and he got up shortly afterwards and soldiered on.
A cracking hit, from a cracking game of rugby. Enjoy.
Sale beat Harlequins in great match at the Stoop
Josh Lewsey hit on Mat Rodgers
Time: 02:27
Note: This hit was missed by RD, but requested by a regular. Please make sure you let us know if you spot something that's worth sharing. Email it, or post it here .
Posted at 4:51 pm | 53 comments
Posted in Big Hits & Dirty Play
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Viewing 53 comments
Phil December 17, 2009 4:32 pm

Chris Boy December 17, 2009 4:38 pm

geordie December 17, 2009 5:06 pm

Saint21 December 17, 2009 5:22 pm

on the other hand stunning legal hit.
Joe Rob December 17, 2009 5:36 pm

Anonymous December 17, 2009 5:45 pm

YankeeRugger76 December 17, 2009 6:05 pm

Cheers from USA
Anonymous December 17, 2009 6:09 pm

.......
It means you should educate yourself before you comment again.
It's an obvious reference to Josh Lewseys similar tackle on Matt Rogers. Who received a few broken ribs and has since been unable to enjoy his past hobby of surfing.
Will Greenwood is a fine commentator.
geordie December 17, 2009 6:18 pm

Anonymous December 17, 2009 6:32 pm

.....
Will Skinner doesn't need to break his ribs to draw a parallel between this hit and Lewseys hit on Rogers. Does he?
geordie December 17, 2009 6:39 pm

Rich December 17, 2009 7:27 pm

Dave December 17, 2009 8:17 pm

............
Sensational hit! Perfect height, left arm wrapped around Skinners legs, right arm/shoulder wrapped around his midriff.
I didn't actually 'get' the reference at first sadly enough, but yeah, makes sense now :P
I think Greenwood is excellent btw. So passionate, and one of the youngest, most 'with it' commentators around. If this were on Eurosport or ESPN, we'd hear 'I say old chap, jolly good hit there by.. by erm.. Lee Thomlinson.'
Anonymous December 17, 2009 8:31 pm

Anonymous December 17, 2009 8:39 pm

no understatement whatsoever
HN December 17, 2009 9:12 pm

Anonymous December 17, 2009 9:14 pm

Anonymous 'above' December 17, 2009 9:22 pm

View Video
John December 17, 2009 9:22 pm

CanadaDoug December 17, 2009 9:23 pm

Anonymous December 17, 2009 9:52 pm

........................
its obvious that he didnt brake his ribs because he played on
great hit
was perfectly legal hit
Abs7 December 17, 2009 9:58 pm

infact i think he's uncapped, which is a shame i think he would compliment roberts well with his hands.
New England... Baby December 17, 2009 10:00 pm

Ryan December 17, 2009 10:01 pm

Anonymous December 17, 2009 10:10 pm

Cracking tackle.
mise December 17, 2009 10:29 pm

The rib/surf comment was made by Rodgers himself, so I'd say it's fairly valid.
Ribs are a bit like that: adopt certain positions lying down, breathing deeply and they hurt. And yet, u could play away.
So Yea he can carry on with his life, but his ribs were effected a bit. Simple enough.
It does make u wonder, just a bit about the lost art of the tackle- interested to hear more about the point of shoulder contact men tioned earlier. Of course this is a legal hit, but it is just that: a hit. Its a well organised hit, that looks like a tackle. Fine, its 100% legal, but rugby has to be about more that crowded midfields, and battering ram 12's, occasional gladiatorial mega hits every now and then, and constant defence - throw in kicking ping pong and its all gone a bit boring.
It will soo close to league mixed with gridiron:
I want complex, interesting running patterns involving lots of players. I like what the Kiwis are doing right now with the supra acute angles and short sharp passes. This might be a way out of the current impasse.
Obviously I've digressed mammothly. But theres' enough food for thought there, that's sort of related to the posting, for a few replies.
Style December 17, 2009 10:57 pm

TSRB 11! Can't wait!
HM December 17, 2009 11:41 pm

"It left me with broken ribs and for months afterwards I couldnt go surfing because my rib stuck out on the board!
Anonymous December 18, 2009 12:00 am

Illegal hit, no wrap, didn't shout "tackle", was offside and you can see him bite Skinner in the slow mo. Disgusting.
To be fair anyone who debates a shoulder tackle this is a perfect example of how to tackle properly.... so any south sea islanders watching....enjoy!!!
Jon December 18, 2009 2:25 am

Anonymous December 18, 2009 2:27 am

The player simply has to make an attempt to get the arms around.
That's all, no more, no less.
If he tries and doesn't succeed in getting his arms around, that's no problem.
Read the laws people!
Tommo December 18, 2009 2:33 am

But it's ok cuz he's a white Englishman right?
Just alot of "Good hit old boy! Well played!"
If it had been an Islander the commentators would have been like :
"Outrageous! We need to eliminate this from the game! Disgraceful thuggery!"
Double standards.
No.7 December 18, 2009 5:43 am

i dont like this :('
funny how people think my comments get noticed so they pretend to be me to blacken any sort of commitment i have to the website....
Sooner or later im going to come on and see a comment with 'No.7' and simply state it wasnt me that said it, so why bother?
Great hit!
Canadian Content December 18, 2009 8:13 am

Rabeni made tackles like this for Leicster all the time.
Brilliant tackle, brilliant commentating and as usual brilliant hating by many RD users.
Anonymous December 18, 2009 8:19 am

And how was this different from Palu's hit?
Watch who you call the fool pal.
Dave December 18, 2009 9:02 am

It's a scary world. To think I drive on the same roads as people like you lot.
Seriously, re-watch both clips again. Palu was much higher, one armed ish, and had no contact with the player when he went to ground. Thomas hit hard, but lower, and held onto him as he hit the turf.
Both were great hits, but this is totally different and nowhere close to penalisable.
jackohos December 18, 2009 10:22 am

Also, a point which has been missed: the Justin Harrison reference is that Will Skinner was the one who knocked out Harrison. See the link for more details: http://tinyurl.com/yaz22po
Andy December 18, 2009 11:02 am

Eoin December 18, 2009 11:26 am

HN December 18, 2009 11:36 am

ste_v_p December 18, 2009 12:59 pm

As for Greenwood, I think he's a very good commentator and just has banter the whole time. He really knows his rugby as well.
Spaniel December 18, 2009 5:13 pm

JohnSmith December 18, 2009 5:19 pm

rjw December 18, 2009 5:48 pm

Also (being a sale fan) i see hodgson week in, week out each season and i don't think he's in any way a poor defender.
Okay, maybe a little bit of bias there, but im certainly sure he can hit harder than o'gara! :)
Spaniel December 18, 2009 6:31 pm

Franks December 18, 2009 8:32 pm

You may be Irish, Spaniel, but you may have not been graced enough by God to be a Munsterman ;)
O'Gara tackling a toddler! I can just see imagine his training schedule. 10am - Weights (but not too many!), 11am - Kicking Practice, Noon - Toddler Tackling, 1pm - Nap.
Anonymous December 19, 2009 6:45 am

No difference between this and Palu or Tuilagi.
You just like it cuz he's English.
One-eyed.
Abs7 December 19, 2009 10:45 am

And any welshman worth his salt would never play for england. surely??
Anonymous February 06, 2010 6:02 pm

Anonymous May 23, 2010 9:17 pm

No difference between this and Palu's or Tuilagi's a few weeks before that.
But it's ok cuz he's a white Englishman right?
To state he is actually Welsh, as stated several times between the video and the comments, and the difference is the hit was completely legal. I personally think it was a fantastic hit, wouldn't want to face that.















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