Thursday, February 16, 2012
Huge hit on Samoa's Uale Mai at the Las Vegas Sevens
This year's USA Sevens in Las Vegas smashed all previous attendance records for the tournament, with over 64 000 fans attending all three days. Those who were there saw some fantastic rugby, and plenty of big tackles.
A few days back highlights of all three days of action in Vegas were posted and you may have seen the hit that's featured here today. If you did, you'll probably agree that it's worth pulling out and posting on it's own. If not, well here it is.
In fact there's a few hits that take place in this clip, but the biggest of them is from Fiji's Metuisela Talebula on Samoan stalwart Uale Mai. It happened during the excellent Cup Semi Final between the two sides, that Samoa won 14-12.
Former Scotland international Scott Hastings was commentating on the day, and as you can hear, he tends to get quite excited. He said afterwards that the tournament was simply incredible.
"For Samoa to turn over Fiji in such a physical match you wondered if they could come out and repeat that feat. The atmosphere here was one of the best in recent memory. I am an emotional guy and as I was commentating even I was shedding a tear during the final just at the sheer brilliance of the physicality and superb skill and fitness of these wonderful players.
"And the Islanders just seemed to bring something to this tournament - that there was something special happening in the wonderful setting at the Sam Boyd Stadium.
"I have a passion for Sevens and have always loved it. It was always a brilliant game to play and it broke the monotony of 15-a-side. These guys are the fittest rugby players on the planet and they have given us something very special here in Las Vegas," he said.
Below is a quick clip of what was possibly the tackle of the tournament. If you saw anything else that you feel was better or just as spectacular, please get in touch to let us know about it. You can follow the series news and updates on IRBSevens.com
Posted at 10:11 pm | 14 comments
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Posted in Big Hits & Dirty Play, Sevens
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Viewing 14 comments
RamRugby10 February 17, 2012 12:22 am
Alex February 17, 2012 1:09 am
cheyanqui February 17, 2012 3:56 am
Willard: Terminate the Captain?
...
Terminate with extreme prejudice.
You understand, Talebula, that this mission does not exist, nor will it ever exist...
gezza82 February 17, 2012 11:51 am
cheyanqui February 17, 2012 3:08 pm
On the opposite end, there have been other hits we see where the player is clearly lifted beyond horizontal, and the only thing that prevents it from being a red card is that the ball carrier manages to put out an elbow to prevent his neck from landing first. The player is not red carded, thanks to the ball carrier saving his own skin (and risking his elbow to save his spine)
Make you wonder which is worse -- and if applying a strict, binary criteria of beyond/not beyond horizontal makes sense.
MattyP February 17, 2012 3:27 pm
That was an awesome hit - but then again, hospital passes do tend to set up hits like that..
Pretzel February 17, 2012 7:17 pm
I think players should just wear tags now to avoid the tackle situation, this contact thing is all too dangerous and scary!
MattyP February 17, 2012 7:23 pm
Have you ever played rugby? There are plenty of ways to be physically dominant in a tackle without inverting a player and putting them at immediate and heightened risk of serious permanent injury. With the eradication of spear tackles, the game will be just as physical, and there will be less ex-players in wheelchairs and less ammunition for lawyers going forward.
Pretzel February 17, 2012 10:51 pm
stroudos February 18, 2012 2:52 pm
granite February 20, 2012 12:52 am
Its a weird contrast to when Fiji loses the plot, like in the Pacific Cup vs Japan.
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