Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Lee Thomas crunching hit on Will Skinner

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.

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.

first

By Anonymous, at December 17, 2009 5:16 pm
Love it. Not quite up there, for me, with Lewsey and Rogers. But then that might be because of the punches thrown by Rogers earlier in the game giving context, and also the antipodean commentary on that earlier vid!

By Phil, at December 17, 2009 5:32 pm
Don't really know much about Thomas but that was a sensational hit

By Chris Boy, at December 17, 2009 5:38 pm
oooooo mummy

By Anonymous, at December 17, 2009 5:49 pm
will greenwood one of englands best centres and offiacly england/ the worlds worst most anoying commentater he doesnt no when to shut up!!

By geordie, at December 17, 2009 6:06 pm
well said geordie. 'he wont be surfing for six or seven months..' what does that even mean?

on the other hand stunning legal hit.

By Saint21, at December 17, 2009 6:22 pm
no wrap

By NoWrap, at December 17, 2009 6:32 pm
to above, enough of this no wrap rubbish, if he'd moved his arm round it wouldn't have made any difference to the impact. Great hit but i think people should focus on where the shoulder is connecting and not if he's hugging the man fully or not

By Joe Rob, at December 17, 2009 6:36 pm
wills comment about him not surfing is because matt rodgers couldn't surf for ages after josh the hammer lewseys hit on him in 2002 something about his broken ribs hitting the board when he laid on it best hit ever that one was ouch

By Anonymous, at December 17, 2009 6:45 pm
Tip of the cap to Skinner for getting up and into a scrum after that pop

Cheers from USA

By YankeeRugger76, at December 17, 2009 7:05 pm
'he wont be surfing for six or seven months..' what does that even mean?

.......

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.

By Anonymous, at December 17, 2009 7:09 pm
yes but will skinner didnt brake his ribs did he so maybe its will greenwood that should go educate before making such a comment

By geordie, at December 17, 2009 7:18 pm
yes but will skinner didnt brake his ribs did he so maybe its will greenwood that should go educate before making such a comment

.....

Will Skinner doesn't need to break his ribs to draw a parallel between this hit and Lewseys hit on Rogers. Does he?

By Anonymous, at December 17, 2009 7:32 pm
yes but will greenwood said directing it at will skinner 'he wont be surfing six or seven months' he seems to get up and carry on playing so it is greenwood that needs to be educated

By geordie, at December 17, 2009 7:39 pm
This is ridiculous, whats greenwood got to do. Walk onto the pitch inspect skinners ribs, get a medical opinion and then return to the commentary box to say something about the incident! Your makeing yourself look stupid geordie, just stop digging.

By Rich, at December 17, 2009 8:27 pm
A new idiot comes to life. Welcome Geordie! :)

............

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.'

By Dave, at December 17, 2009 9:17 pm
Illegal hit, no wrap, didn't shout "tackle", was offside and you can see him bite Skinner in the slow mo. Disgusting.

By Anonymous, at December 17, 2009 9:31 pm
'rib tickler'
no understatement whatsoever

By Anonymous, at December 17, 2009 9:39 pm
The surfing is a reference to the Lewsey/Rogers hit. Afterwards, Rogers couldn't surf because his broken rib was so sore. Even now, I think he's gouged a hole out of the board for his lumpy rib to fit in.

By HN, at December 17, 2009 10:12 pm
To the anonymous above: I think he gouged him as well ;-)

By Anonymous, at December 17, 2009 10:14 pm
Good observation anonymous! Think he also does a cheeky little John Hopoate too! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s651jrL6fh8

By Anonymous 'above', at December 17, 2009 10:22 pm
No wrap? I think you're watching a different vid...

By John, at December 17, 2009 10:22 pm
Interesting to here the reference about Lee Thomas becoming English. Could he fill the 12 for England?

By CanadaDoug, at December 17, 2009 10:23 pm
This is ridiculous, whats greenwood got to do. Walk onto the pitch inspect skinners ribs, get a medical opinion and then return to the commentary box to say something about the incident! Your makeing yourself look stupid geordie, just stop digging.
........................

its obvious that he didnt brake his ribs because he played on

great hit
was perfectly legal hit

By Anonymous, at December 17, 2009 10:52 pm
CanadaDoug it wouldnt suprise me if he does end up playing for england because he hasn't had a look in for wales for years..

infact i think he's uncapped, which is a shame i think he would compliment roberts well with his hands.

By Abs7, at December 17, 2009 10:58 pm
that'd be considered a soft hit in the nfl

By New England... Baby, at December 17, 2009 11:00 pm
I doubt Mat Rogers can't surf because of Josh Lewseys tackle on him... Considering he played the rest of that game, and now continues to play professional Rugby League for the Gold Coast Titans who he dominates for... In other words, f*** the haters!

By Ryan, at December 17, 2009 11:01 pm
There's only one thing better than a good hit and that's a good hit on a quin.

Cracking tackle.

By Anonymous, at December 17, 2009 11:10 pm
Ah the old days. I remember when RD was mostly about big hits. Now, its slowly turning into a standard though high end rugby highlight website, thanks to a liberal interpretation of copyright, judicious choices in vid and and a good crew contributing.

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.

By mise, at December 17, 2009 11:29 pm
Is nfl the sport where one guy puts on a helmet and throws himself with eyes closed into another guy with a helmet and then celebrates like it took skill to do it?

TSRB 11! Can't wait!

By Style, at December 17, 2009 11:57 pm
Mat Rogers: "I think that hit will take the crown as the biggest ever. I just remember lying there writhing in pain, unable to breathe.

"It left me with broken ribs and for months afterwards I couldn’t go surfing because my rib stuck out on the board!

By HM, at December 18, 2009 12:41 am
Anonymous......Class!!!

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!!!

By Anonymous, at December 18, 2009 1:00 am
That was a great hit, but if he'd been an Islander he'd have been carded.

By Jon, at December 18, 2009 3:25 am
Some people don't get the wrap law, which is where all this confusion comes from.
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!

By Anonymous, at December 18, 2009 3:27 am
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?
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.

By Tommo, at December 18, 2009 3:33 am
'No.7 said...
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!

By No.7, at December 18, 2009 6:43 am
Fools, this was nothing like the other high tackles featured on this site recently. Perfect height, great timing and there was an attempt to wrap, the impact forced him away.

Rabeni made tackles like this for Leicster all the time.

Brilliant tackle, brilliant commentating and as usual brilliant hating by many RD users.

By Canadian Content, at December 18, 2009 9:13 am
high tackles? Who's talking about high tackles?
And how was this different from Palu's hit?
Watch who you call the fool pal.

By Anonymous, at December 18, 2009 9:19 am
Haha I can't believe some of you guys are comparing this to Palu's tackle! OMG do you have eyesight problems?

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.

By Dave, at December 18, 2009 10:02 am
Cheers RD - I knew you wouldn't let me down.

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

By jackohos, at December 18, 2009 11:22 am
Bosh! then a 'Merry f*cking Christmas' in his ear.

By Andy, at December 18, 2009 12:02 pm
I'm praying for the day when Greenwood gets wrenched out of the commentary box and told never to return. Great player. And intelligent fella. But he is easily the worst commentator I've ever had to listen too. He consisently delivers total and utter tosh in every game.

By Eoin, at December 18, 2009 12:26 pm
Is it just me, or can you see him shouting 'fuck' as he goes downin the slo-mo?

By HN, at December 18, 2009 12:36 pm
Great hit, perfectly legal. Not nice to recieve them though as you just don't see them coming!

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.

By ste_v_p, at December 18, 2009 1:59 pm
Good solid hit you'd need a 12 who can hit like that with charlie hodgson inside you lol hodgson is the only 10 with worse defence than o'gara! And o'gara couldnt stop a toddler carrying a ball made of cheese... irish by the way incase any ardent munster men jump at me.

By Spaniel, at December 18, 2009 6:13 pm
Totally agree eoin! Greenwood is damn hard to listen to especially during england internationals! Might as well give him a big foam finger and paint the flag on his face.

By JohnSmith, at December 18, 2009 6:19 pm
Tait put in a good tackle on the quinns 13 in this match too; not exactly a rib breaker, but solid and it led to a knock on.

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! :)

By rjw, at December 18, 2009 6:48 pm
O'gara vs hodgson in a crap tackler battle to the death?! lol

By Spaniel, at December 18, 2009 7:31 pm
Well, England could use a good center...Wales have got Davies and Roberts, so I think he'd be better off at England.

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.

By Franks, at December 18, 2009 9:32 pm
Bunch of poms.
No difference between this and Palu or Tuilagi.
You just like it cuz he's English.
One-eyed.

By Anonymous, at December 19, 2009 7:45 am
Oh mush ^^^ He's welsh.

And any welshman worth his salt would never play for england. surely??

By Abs7, at December 19, 2009 11:45 am
Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't Thomas wearing . . . shoulder pads? Excuse me, rugby is without protection. Are you going soft over in Europe and moving towards American Football? What is next, helmets?

By Anonymous, at February 06, 2010 7:02 pm
As quoted by tommo
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.

By Anonymous, at May 23, 2010 11:17 pm