Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Nili Latu's big hit on the Cherry Blossom's Shaun Webb

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Nili Latu's big hit on the Cherry Blossom's Shaun Webb

Reminiscent of the crunching tackle he made on Lewis Moody during the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Tongan captain Nili Latu put in this smashing hit on the young Japanese fullback Shaun Webb recently in the Pacific Nations Cup.

Latu was highly impressive at the World Cup with his physical brand of rugby as well as his fantastic leadership on the field, mainly through putting in tackles like this one.

Unfortunately for the Tongans in this years Pacific Nations Cup though, they've been hit hard by the unavailability of key players based in Europe and subsequently haven’t won a match as of yet. The ever improving Japan shocked them on this occasion with a 35-13 victory that was a great achievement for the Japanese, who put up a decent fight against Australia A too.

Under the guidance of former All Black John Kirwan, Japan have shown they're no pushovers at this level and have scored a few fantastic tries in this years tournament.

Physically though, the Tongans will always be more aggressive, and despite the loss, there was no shortage of effort on display, with this being just one of the crunching hits that the Japanese felt the full force of.

:: Related Posts ::
Rough night for Lewis Moody

oooooooooooooooooo sit down
i fukin love this website :D

By Anonymous, at July 02, 2008 11:02 pm
Yeah because he looks Japanese....

Anyway good hit and its brilliant to see Japan playing rugby.

By Anonymous, at July 02, 2008 11:26 pm
weird that he basically leads with his chest!?
surely he'd have smashed him even more by dropping the shoulder?

although having said that i don't think latu's exactly disappointed with the hit and webb probably doesn't even remember his own name.

By Anonymous, at July 02, 2008 11:40 pm
blatant high tackle and caught his man on the head, Latu was lucky to escape with two of these v England at the RWC, someone needs to teach him how to tackle properly

By Anonymous, at July 03, 2008 12:02 am
lol he does jus kinda run into him upright, not much technique all power but is clearly effective. personally i dnt think its a high tackle

By Anonymous, at July 03, 2008 12:33 am
by the way, 95kgs?!!? no chance. the last time latu weighed that he was probably still playing tag in the playground!

By Anonymous, at July 03, 2008 2:42 am
it was a really ugly tackle but it still did the job. Too right felix he looks like 110 i play u14 a grade and there's this guy on another team who weighs 98 and he did almost the same thing to me.

By Anonymous, at July 03, 2008 6:37 am
Oh and i cant wait for the Fiji Tonga match should be a beauty

By Anonymous, at July 03, 2008 7:41 am
That's not a tackle, thats a hit from a bumper-cart (probably about the same impact, mind you!).

As long as I'm not on the receiving end, I can see the charm of these Island-tackles ;-)

By Sander, at July 03, 2008 10:26 am
@ Chazza

Schoolboys at 98 KG's?
WTF do they feed you guys... rocks? :)

By Sander, at July 03, 2008 10:27 am
yeah sander i dont know though his dad isnt the smallest of guys either, and his mum, well lets just say that i wouldnt want to run in to her at a dark alley. Lol its true though i play in romania and we have 3 guys of the team who are over 90 kg two of then are props and the other is hooker so we have a mad front row. I just wish australia did as well all we have is fat old and ugly dunning

By Anonymous, at July 03, 2008 11:19 am
Any chance of getting Butch James hit on Juan Martin Hernandez in the World Cup semi match between Argentina and South Africa?

By Anonymous, at July 03, 2008 2:28 pm
I'm a bit of a newcomer to rugby... wasn't he obligated to wrap his arms around the ball carrier?

By Anonymous, at July 03, 2008 11:27 pm
yep the rules state you have to 'attempt' to wrap your arms round the player. this is to avoid people just runing into each other or shoulder charging but itstill comes down to the refs interpretation which is a personal matter of opinion.

in my opinion this 'tackle' makes great viewing so as a spectator i love it.
however, if i got hit by one of these, i'd be less than happy about the attempt to wrap the arms. though i'd probably never regain consciousness so it wouldn't matter.

By Anonymous, at July 04, 2008 12:40 am
kaboom!
he did attmepted to put his arms around but the jap bounced back too fast :)

By Anonymous, at July 04, 2008 1:34 am
Should be a penalty, or at least the ref in France would give 10m for that...

By jay, at July 04, 2008 2:49 pm
i don't see how this is not a high tackle his shoulders are at the same hight as the guys head...anyway whateva! i like how the islanders always tackle securing the ball!

By poccio, at July 04, 2008 5:15 pm
at the 18th second or so theres another good hit on a jap albeit a bit late!!

By Anonymous, at July 09, 2008 11:45 am
Mate,Nili Latu is like a steam train,aint he,Crashing Webb like that?Big hit...

By Anonymous, at August 27, 2008 12:25 pm
"He felt every last kilo of it"
Didn't know that Japan play that good in sevens

By Anonymous, at October 12, 2008 7:11 pm
Are this sevens or 15's?

I think 15's but not sure...

By Anonymous, at November 08, 2008 10:23 am
noap,these are 15's for sure

By Anonymous, at November 08, 2008 10:25 am