Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Lote Tuqiri smashes Jerry Flannery at the final whistle

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Lote Tuqiri smashes Jerry Flannery at the final whistle

If you watched Saturday’s test between the Wallabies and Ireland all the way to the end, as I trust you did, you would have seen a few huge hits flying in from the home team as time ran out.

Ireland, who had fought so bravely throughout, tried desperately to keep the ball alive and get down field for a winning score, but it was not to be, as the only big event at the end of the match was this devastating hit by Lote Tuqiri on Irish hooker Jerry Flannery.

Flannery got a horrible high pass which he had to jump up to take. Lote saw the opportunity present itself, and flew in at Flannery, smashing him to the ground and giving the Victorian crowd something else to cheer about as their team came out on top.

Watch the hit, and then keep an eye on Flannery as play goes on. This one really hurt, as I'd say most one on one encounters with Lote Tuqiri would.

No time for this man, no arms envolved - illegal, and typical of league converts aswell.

By Anonymous, at June 17, 2008 10:42 pm
nice hit hes a strong winger aint he his cousin plays for the under 20's he even bigger

By Anonymous, at June 17, 2008 10:44 pm
first anonymous..

well, so what if you dont have time for him? the australian national team seems to have a lot so i doubt big lote will mind..

and theres been much worse tackles committed by non league converts, so dont try and start an argument between the 2 sports..

By Anonymous, at June 17, 2008 11:01 pm
that`s what we call a "hospital pass"

By Anonymous, at June 17, 2008 11:24 pm
didnt even try to wrap flannery up

By Anonymous, at June 17, 2008 11:27 pm
A great hit, but illegal nonetheless

By Anonymous, at June 17, 2008 11:28 pm
i agree with munster man

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 12:06 am
I disagree. He was in the air, but being tackled in the air from a pass isn't governed as strictly as tackled in the air from a kick. A bit strange, but that's the way it is.

One foot off the ground too. Not as if he was going up for the high ball.
And as far shoulder/no arms - that arguments getting old too. Nothing wrong with this. Every big (legal) tackle you've ever seen involves the shoulder.

We moan about the game becoming soft, but yet some still moan about tackles like this. I guess that's when pride and patriotism comes into it eh..
If Flannery did that to Lote, it would be the best hit Irelands ever seen. Tink about it. :)

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 12:46 am
Ouch, nothing more than a dangerous shoulder charge. He forgot which code he was in. Why didn't the ref ping him? Perhaps neon lights might of helped.

By AK, at June 18, 2008 12:48 am
If we start carding people for hits like this then we might as well all play football instead.

It' not late, it's not high, he wraps his arms (a bit) Flannery is is slightly off the ground but he is landing when the contact is made and didn't really even need to jump in the first place. it's just an absolute bone crunching tackle. i hate lote tuqiri with a passion - he gives away loads of penalties and has a very average try scoring record for such a highly paid player. BUT i have to admit this is a cracking tackle.

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 1:11 am
Don't agree - have seen HUGE hits that are perfectly legal, so can't commend this one. Good timin, but terrible technique legality-wise.

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 1:40 am
an absolutely rib cracking hospital pass. Someone owes Jerry some beers.

In regards to the hit, It was without arms, and in the air, but given how many illegal tackles Lote makes in a season, this one was pretty benign

By Big Ginger, at June 18, 2008 1:54 am
I think Jerry was getting a bit of payback for Neil Best's hit on Tuqiri in 2006 in Dublin. Lote was more fired up for this match than usual. You can see the hit at the very end of this clip.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WBNfOlozwIs

Unlike the hit on Flannery, Best's hit is legal as he follows through and wraps his arms while still causing a major impact and driving backwards.

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 2:18 am
Calling for a yellow card for an illegal 'tackle' means we're going soft? Are you insane?

Awful pass, left Fla awfully exposed.

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 2:56 am
he didn't have the ball

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 3:49 am
ugh...I definitely feel for the guy. I've been in that situation before - get hit hard just before the end of a match and as soon as you're finally able to stand up again, the whistle blows and you've lost the match.

Smashing hit though...and I have to say I certainly agree with Felix here. There's stops enough as it is in the game, why nit-pick about a lazy tackle?

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 7:08 am
what are you talking about, he made contact with is left arm on to him before he even hit him and his right arm does swing around, just that flannery went down hard and fast, not to forget the ball shot away and you can see lote start looking for the ball once he hits him. Good hit and nothing wrong with it. Reading this makes me wonder what the hell is going on with rugby fans, turning into a bunch of softies just wanting to have a cry about something. I am far from a Lote fan but even I can see that this is nothing more then a standard big hit in the modern game of rugby.

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 7:56 am
Anonymous above of me is right, this season Lote has been puting in some great defence take when he smashes Mccaw twice in like a minute. He makes a great team with Lachlan Turner and i rekon that we will see them in the future, even though i dont particulary like Turner. Oh and just a little thing did any1 else notice that the two waratahs winger have the same intials

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 8:06 am
Man, you guys saying this tackle wasn't illegal need to crack open your law books - the tackler must wrap AND see the ball carrier safely to the ground. Bouncing a guy off your shoulder doesn't even come close to that.

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 8:53 am
Lote Tuqiri's older brother is coming to play for the waratahs, he weighs 128 kilogrames and he runs the hundred in 11.8 he might play alongside Timana Tahu in the centers

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 9:18 am
Not sure how any of you can really comment when the camera was miles away and there weren't any different angle replays (unfortunately).

Looked good to me though, and once again, how soft are we getting??! geez. Arms wrapped blah blah.. it's not tiddly winks.

Anonymous above - get your facts right man - it's Lote's cousin not brother.

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 10:46 am
... unless you're talking about someone other than Rasi Nasiganiyavi.. then I apologise.

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 10:49 am
This waz a big takle.

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 10:54 am
Sharky you never cease to amuse me with your attention to detail, true my fault but hey everyone makes mistakes

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 12:14 pm
lol :)

btw.. don't you think he'll play wing, not center though?

anyway... off topic, my bad.

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 12:26 pm
Shoulder charge in the air. Personally I think the "in the air" rule should only apply to receiving kicks and line-outs, but as it stands it applies to all situations, so this is illegal on two counts.

Huge hit though

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 12:33 pm
Not sure sharky beacuse we already have two alright wingers, so i think that they will move Timana Tahu to number twelve and put Rasi Nasiganiyavi in as number 13 thus alowing timana to be more into the game and let the big guy run his log like legs into richie mccaw

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 1:22 pm
LOL at the people calling this a shoulder charge. Get your eyesight checked! Freeze frame at 0.06. His body is frontal, so the player is hitting the front of his shoulders/pec and he goes to wrap his arms around too. The Irish player just drops because there is a heap of force.

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 2:07 pm
when lote hit him his arms swang round, its just he hit him so hard that he didnt have time to wrap his arms cos flabby flannery went bouncing off!
anyone calling for a yellow card or a penalty is almost certainly a bitter irish fan.
worse than the NZ fans when it comes to bias

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 2:19 pm
Agreed ^

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 3:28 pm
That was a nasty tackle
He just went in to hurt flannery
No arms whatsoever
Very Fijian like

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 5:10 pm
His arm was wrapping right around Flannery, it's just he crumbled so fast Tuquiri had no chance to hold on.

Great hit.
Nice to see!

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 5:34 pm
Not sure how the aussies are defending Tuqiri on this one. However what a shocking pass, poor Flannery.

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 6:06 pm
Nothing patriotic about it (Not Irish or Aus). Was an illegal/dangerous tackle. Should have been penalty.

Law 26 - Foul Play

(v) The following actions constitute dangerous play:-
(a) If a player charges or knocks down an opponent carrying the ball without any attempt to grasp him (as in a tackle);

What Lote deserved was:
Penalty, Irish Line-out, O'Connell collects, to Centre, score under posts... this is not league...

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 6:10 pm
Nothing in it. It's sad to see big tackles like this under scrutiny.

Because it really isn't Lotes fault that he smashed the bloke so hard he bounced straight to the floor before the tackler could even attempt to wrap.

It looks bad, but anyone who's played rugby knows it happens. You go in for the legal tackle and the guy bounces off you before you've had chance to get your arms around.

If you think this tackle should have been penalised then you're an idiot. What would you rather Lote did, stop, hug the guy, and then try to drive him back?

The shoulder/higher arm area is almost always the first area to make contact on the attacking player. It's only logical to assume now and again you'll hit a guy with so much force that he'll drop before you can wrap.

I call legal on the grounds of basic physics and common sense.

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 6:42 pm
If we're going to be picky then Tuqiri's cousin is called 'Ratu' not 'Rasi'

and i agree with rancid. tuqiri hits him so hard that he bounces off before he can hold on to him.

hits like this are a great part of the game, you can't start telling players they have to hit more gently so that they have time to make sure their arms are wrapped properly.

also to anonymous (which i though rugbydump was trying to stop people calling themselves) the tackle rules do indeed state the tackler must not 'charge or knock down and opponent without TRYING TO GRASP THAT PLAYER' ie you don't have to actually grasp them - you just have to try to. there has been enough disagreement about whether he tries to grasp or not on this message board even though we can watch it again and again. the referee is surely then right to give the benefit of the doubt to the tackler.

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 8:04 pm
agreed with rancid, stop complaining about this not being league, ye its not league its not netball either tuqiri doesnt have to give him a hug for it to constitute a tackle

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 8:26 pm
Yeah Ratu - sorry, my bad. It's quite a tongue twister. So much focus on second name and I got the first one wrong. woops. lol

Regarding the hit, I couldn't agree more with Rancid and Felix. You guys have hit the nail on the head (while attempting to wrap arms of course, otherwise you'd be accused of it being a league hit!)

Common sense, physics, and of course a key point by Felix - attempting to grasps/wrap arms. That's something guys sometimes forget when getting in a huff about hits on here.

Anyway, it's not tiddlywinks boys.

By Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 11:14 pm
illegal guys, no question, and it was just made to look like a huge hit because flannery was busy doing a pirouette!

im not disputing lote packs a considerable punch, but id like to see him try this with flannery running straight on at him. It wouldnt happen, and thats why hes a winger and flannerys a forward.

big hit nonetheless, but not to be made anything other than it was

By Unknown, at June 18, 2008 11:20 pm
it does indeed look worse due to flannery being in the least ready position possible but the legality is still in question.

The answer to whether this was legal or not lies within the video itself...

THE REFEREE DOESN'T WHISTLE!!

he clearly felt that Tuqiri was abiding by the laws we have quoted and judges therefore that it IS legal - (just ask Richie McCaw or Neil Back or any good rugby player for the matter) - whatever you get away with in any particular game is legal. As my coach used to say 'play to the whistle guys'. and if the referee does blow his whistle you stop it and don't do it again... until the next game

By Anonymous, at June 19, 2008 12:41 am
It was a bad pass that got his team mate crushed. I blame the pass more than Lote.

By Hendrick, at June 19, 2008 5:32 am
great hit, massive power but still penalty if you are going to go by the rule book.. to all of you's saying that he attempts to wrap his arms, you's are deluded.. proof that he makes no attemp to wrap his arms or bring the player to the ground are in the fact that thesecond he makes contact with flannery he stops moving. whereas if he had went in to wrap the arms he would have tried to drive forward with the player but with this one he just stops the second contact is made...

but however i love these sorts of hits so i am glad the ref didnt blow it up for penalty an i believe laws should be changed slightly...irish btw

By Anonymous, at June 19, 2008 1:22 pm
sorry themull i have to disagree with what you call 'proof'.

one might just as easily argue that Tuqiri 'stopped' when he made contact due to the principle of elastic collision.

When two objects of equal masses collide, the relative velocity of one object with respect to the other is reversed by the collision.

If tuqiri is travelling at 'V' and Flannery is stationary then after colliding Tuqiri will be stationary and Flannery will be travelling at 'V' (which might stand for very hard into the ground on this occasion).
Before you ask, Tuqiri and Flannery weight almost exactly the same amount (103-105kgs) so the principle is perfectly valid in this instance.

By Anonymous, at June 19, 2008 5:53 pm
The idea that rugby is "a mans game, etc. etc...." doesn't excuse dangerous tackles and that type of mentality seems to miss the point of rugby

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2008 5:39 pm
ok i'm sorry im not a physics genious but even so he still didnt wrap his arms and i have seen penalties given for alot less. and even with ur equations i still think he could have made the effort but even so i not complainin as i said earlier these types of tackles should be made legal.

i was only stating that going by letter of the law at the moment its ireland penalty.

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2008 10:14 pm
cool, i still think this one was okay but totally agree that if this isn't legal, it should be.

By Anonymous, at June 21, 2008 12:29 am
blah blah blah. flannery got smashed. U shouldnt blame tuqiri, if anyone saw a sitting duck like Flannery they'd take the hit as well. U should blame whoever gave flannery the pass

By Anonymous, at June 22, 2008 4:26 pm
great hit !! how was that illegal? I thought the tackle was fine, he timed it right and hit hard with the shoulder. I think people need to calm down about it being illegal - use your eyes !! Lote's a great player - and a great hitter !

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2008 6:17 pm
Idiot still thinks he's playing League

By Anonymous, at July 06, 2008 4:18 pm
haha! he got smashed! :) well done lote

By Anonymous, at July 07, 2008 6:25 am
Gentlemen, used loosely here but the Ref didnt blow it up,he was standing right there. The one law you all forgot is the sole person to interupt the laws is the referee. It was his interuptation that it was a legal hit. Myself I think it was a hard hit and before he could grasp the Irish player crumbled. If you watch he doesnt get up for quite a while. Enjoy the hard hits the ELVs may make them scarce

By Unknown, at July 09, 2008 1:36 pm
You know what, I probably would have (and have done) the same thing, but it doesn't make it any better.
The tackle was illegal, and that is an undebateable fact. Lote made no attempt to wrap his arms around - It was a shoulder charge, not a tackle.

Massive hit though, from a guy who is clearly accustomed to them.

By Anonymous, at July 11, 2008 5:00 pm
Anthony, how will the ELV's make big hits scarce?! That's a ridiculous statement.

I love this hit, and still insist it's legal, particularly as three other important men on the field agree with me... ;)

By Anonymous, at July 19, 2008 5:24 pm
that is a well good tackle, no way is that illegal, pause it at 6seconds and u can see his arm round him!

By Anonymous, at July 20, 2008 10:42 pm
It's only illegal if the referee calls it. Im sure if you were the one putting in the big hit you wouldnt be sitting there complaining about it being illegal and asking the ref to get sin binned, i mean come on man.

Theres three things you cant control in any sport; The Weather, The Surface of Play, and the Referee...so sometimes you just have to make the best of it

By Anonymous, at July 21, 2008 9:53 pm