Monday, June 27, 2011
Rough night for the Waratahs and Atieli Pakalani vs the Blues
The first qualifier of this past weekend's Super Rugby playoffs turned out to be quite a physical affair, with plenty of big hits and players dropping like flies. Here's a few of the tackles that might have caught your attention.
The Waratahs went into the match with a horrible injury count. At the beginning of their campaign, their first choice team were nothing like what turned out against the Blues, and during the match itself, they lost a few more players.
While both sides - and indeed a few others - have been through a tough time of late personnel wise, the Sydney side's injury list makes grim reading. Coach Chris Hickey refused to use that as an excuse for the loss though, and all things considered, they put on a decent display.
During the match itself, there was no holding back as both sides gave their all in the knockout clash. As you can see in this short compilation video, Jerome Kaino threw his body around a fair bit (and other peoples), and Keven Mealamu and Stephen Brett combined earlier in the game for a for a big hit on wing Atieli Pakalani.
One of the more enjoyable moments though was prop John Afoa's impressive kick chase and tackle, also on Pakalani, and then later on there was the sickening head-clash between big Sitaleki Timani and, you guessed it, Pakalani. Rough night for him. Another short highlight was Ali Williams' kick ahead, to add to his try in the same match .
The Blues have also got a few injury concerns, with Anthony Boric being rules out from their crunch semi final with the Reds this coming weekend. He has a foot strain.
Time: 02:05
Posted at 3:20 pm | 23 comments
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Viewing 23 comments
Anonymous June 27, 2011 7:26 pm
Some decent hits, can't wait for the semis this weekend! Probably gona be Reds v Crusaders in the final but i don't care i'm English, just hoping to see some good rugby.
Cheers for the clip RD.
Anonymous June 27, 2011 7:46 pm
Anonymous June 27, 2011 8:07 pm
Anonymous June 27, 2011 9:20 pm
Juggernautert June 27, 2011 10:27 pm
Consider that Super Rugby is played through three countries and that South Africa is 8K kilometres away from Australasia (so no away public most of the time), that the stadiums are often huge (so crowds look laughably small), that franchise teames take time to get the heart of the public and that New Zealander's pockets are saving money for World Cup tickets (at least I hope so).
Anyway, it's interasting to debate why on earth the IRB gave the WC to New Zealand, considering there are tons of countries in where we need to develop the game and that New Zealand are two tiny islands in the Pacific, that they haven't got the stadia nor the capacity to receive such an amount of people.
The IRB should definitely look forward - the England 2015 fiasco is already done, so after Japan, the WC's should be held in Italy, then the USA and then Russia. Sure we don't want to end like FIFA!
Cheers
Anonymous June 27, 2011 11:28 pm
Having watched the game, and interestingly enough you didn't add the clips were Pakalani and Timani ran over the top of Blues players.
Pull your heads out and get the Australia vs France, 3rd place highlights for the u/20 World Cup please. Thanks
Mart June 28, 2011 12:09 am
The hit from mealamu was illegal.
Anonymous June 28, 2011 12:34 am
JT June 28, 2011 2:43 am
Mart June 28, 2011 3:05 am
Anonymous June 28, 2011 5:57 am
I thought it was perfect.
Nick June 28, 2011 9:12 am
Anonymous June 28, 2011 9:34 am
Laz June 28, 2011 10:01 am
Having watched the game, and interestingly enough you didn't add the clips were Pakalani and Timani ran over the top of Blues players.
Pull your heads out and get the Australia vs France, 3rd place highlights for the u/20 World Cup please. Thanks"
Could you be any more of a Waratahs fan? Get over yourself, and find highlights yourself. I doubt that tone would get your anywhere.
The Green Mafia June 28, 2011 10:07 am
am I to assume that piere spies is 0.08 seconds faster than Usain Bolt's world record? Please, stop smoking things you find in your neighbour's garden. Sick and tired of this homoerotic love some guys seem to have for Spies. The guy isn't even his country's best n8, let alone the world. And if Div wasn't one of his fans, Joe Van Niekerk would have his place EASY.
Also, nice game, with plenty of heart, ESPECIALLY if you consider the injury toll this year. Kaino is a monster. Seems everyone wants to prove themselves. It's going to be a cracker of a World Cup
Greiffel June 28, 2011 10:11 am
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