Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Matt Giteau's rough night against Fiji

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Matt Giteau's rough night against Fiji

Matt Giteau seemed to be the target when the Wallabies played Fiji on the weekend. The midfield maestro found himself the victim of three big tackles in the first half alone. Two Fijian players have since been suspended for dangerous tackles.

There’s no doubt that Quade Cooper at ten and Matt Giteau at first centre is a great combination going forward for the Wallabies. It’s also fair to say that if you manage to get them off their game with a bit of physicality, you’ll probably be able to disrupt their flow and creativity.

That’s what Fiji attempted to do early on in the match in Canberra as Giteau, who for a little guy has always punched above his weight, got hit hard three times as the Fijian backs threw themselves at him.

Centre Saula Radidi has since been suspended for two matches for his off the ball tackle, and fullback Taniela Rawaqa got just one game for his shoulder charge.

Both players pleaded guilty to the charges when appearing before judicial officer Denis Wheelahan on Sunday.

The first hit in this clip was considered fine as Giteau got his first taste of what was coming his way. We then see the shoulder, and then look carefully for the off the ball his as Rob Horne broke the line. As it plays on, you can see Radidi lash out too.

Highlights of yesterdays Australian Barbarians game against England will be posted soon.

:: Related Posts ::
The Wallabies cruise to victory over Fiji

Time: 02:03

Bosh. I got the first comment. Get in there.

Brutal hits. The slow-mo's dont do them justice actually. Looked terrible in real time. That off the ball didn't look toooo bad though I thought?

By Flinto, at June 09, 2010 8:48 am
I think the off the ball was the worst of the lot. He wouldn't have been expecting that at all, so we wouldn't have braced for it.
First one was great, 2nd was rough and deserved the penalty.
Did the "tackler" in the 3rd incident get sent off? It was right on half time, so I never found out.

By granite, at June 09, 2010 8:53 am
Third was worst... It was a good second after Horne had completely broken the line of defence when Gits was tackled... Having had said that the only people on the field who seemed to notice it was the tackler, Quade Cooper, and Matt Giteau (assuming he remembered it all lol). So no Granite he wasn't sent off.

By Ryan, at June 09, 2010 9:28 am
Granite, no, the ref and the touch judges in this game were generally poor, and they didn't even realise it had happened.
At no point did they notice it and so there was neither a penalty or even a word to the Fijians.
Rocky Elsom went up to the ref and had a go at him, basically asked him what he and the linesman were doing, and how they missed an obvious off the ball tackle.

By Tim, at June 09, 2010 9:43 am
Again classic pacific islander mentality. Start off with brutal but controlled aggression and then start to lose it as the game wears on becoming increasingly and illegitmately violent. The 2nd and 3rd hit were both disgraceful.

By Anonymous, at June 09, 2010 9:52 am
With a comment like that, it's no wonder you prefer "Anonymous".

By you're an assclown, at June 09, 2010 9:54 am
It's not a big deal anon, the South africans are even more brutal.
Obviously they're ilegal tackles, but it's more the refs fault for not handling them.
Besides these were the only real unsavoury incidents in the game, I've seen games against South Africa or New Zealand with more ilegal hits.
At the end of the day, the Fijians were very physical, as they always are, and I'm australia welcomed it as a good preparation for the test matches ahead.
Two bad tackles, and the Aussies were really angry only at the ref for not doing anything about it.

By Tim, at June 09, 2010 9:56 am
1st hit was text book.

2nd was just a body check, no attempt or thought of tackling, just wanted to hurt MG.

3rd is just a silly offence- not needed and should have a suspension for it.
Theres no way anybody should be expecting to get hit there- and rightly so.

By Unknown, at June 09, 2010 9:59 am
Its funny how people only moan when its polynesian's doing it.

By Jocko, at June 09, 2010 10:00 am
Personally, I find any kind of unsporting pay like this distasteful: I don't want to see thuggery even if this is a 'thug's game'. Surely if the referee laid down the law more heavily, it'd clear up the illegal behaviour. I would have yellow-carded the 2nd tackler: reminding him of the rules isn't exactly going to deter him - he knows the bloody rules already.

By Stephen, at June 09, 2010 10:06 am
Hey Rugbydump, you should show the high tackle Rupeni Caucau made on Adam Ashley-Cooper and got away with :)

By vhavnal, at June 09, 2010 10:27 am
Fair play to Giteau for getting up 3 times. He's always been a tough little son-of-a-b*tch (that's a compliment). As a Brit I have always rated him for his skills, but also for his heart (remember as a small play maker many teams have targeted him in the past).

By Ally, at June 09, 2010 10:49 am
It's a shame the Islander sides can never get their best 15 together for internationals outside of the world cup - in fact they can't always get them together for the world cup (Wasps hideous decision to contractually stop Leota going stands out for me).

Foul play is very very rarely defensible. But while we're all here complaining about the Fijians rough stuff the more important and bigger wrong to me is the IRB's inability to secure player release for nations such as Fiji.

By Hackney Griffin, at June 09, 2010 11:26 am
What I think this shows as well is the difference between getting a big hit with the ball, or after a pass, and an unexpected hit. Giteau got straight up after the first two, but stayed down for a bit after the off the ball one.

By George, at June 09, 2010 11:57 am
How about Cooper getting his ass kicked after swinging? But Kudos to him for standing up for his teammate.

By Anonymous, at June 09, 2010 12:09 pm
not sure about this cooper 10 - giteau 12 combo. i think you have to have a physical 12 that can take the big hits but still get reasonable go foward. eg. Roberts, Nonu, Tindal, De villiers, Henson.
Or maybe they could just get a big 13 or winger to do that.
We shall see.

By Anonymous, at June 09, 2010 12:27 pm
anyone who experienced an off the ball tackle knows how this is much more dangerous than even a huge good tackle. I hate off the ball tacklers that's really just meant to hurt the other one (usually the loosing team ...)

By Anonymous, at June 09, 2010 12:48 pm
It seems that there was a contract on Matt Giteau...

By El poney, at June 09, 2010 2:01 pm
really bad that the third one wasnt picked up! i mean seriously everyone in the stadium probably saw it except the three fellas who were meant to

By sebastian, at June 09, 2010 2:38 pm
great first, rough second, and horrible third

cooper-gitts at 10-12 looks good, but cooper seemed to struggle at bit in the beginning with luke burgess, so i'd swap 9s and start with genia-cooper
giteau-mortlock(when back from injury)-or rhis guy rovb horne
ioane-oconnor-beale

By luxi, at June 09, 2010 3:34 pm
so much who is who... where and when is France playing? ♥

By dinnar, at June 09, 2010 4:00 pm
great to see cooper get the 10 shirt

By pilapica, at June 09, 2010 4:18 pm
typical fijian. When I play them its always the same thing. You hit them to hard or embarrass them and they get up swinging. They have no self control. Very dirty players in my book. I liked that Cooper went over and backed up his mate. I think the Aussie will win World Cup.

By Unknown, at June 09, 2010 4:42 pm
^^ agreed. classic islander rugby, all the talent in the world and they go and make themeselves look like idiots. they really need to have a long look at themselves because this type of thing has been going on too long with them

By Anonymous, at June 09, 2010 4:51 pm
1st->nice and legal hit!

2nd->shoulder charge near the try line,yellow card for me.

3rd->absolutely mental,straight red card and long ban.

Edoardo from Italy

By Anonymous, at June 09, 2010 6:02 pm
'There’s no doub that Quade Cooper at ten and Matt Giteau'

'Both players pleased guilty to the charges when appearing before judicial officer Denis Wheelahan on Sunday.'

doubt and pleaded....

otherwise awesome description as usual.....

too many late nights eh? RD

By Anonymous, at June 09, 2010 6:23 pm
Shocker. Thanks for picking up on that. Wrote that one in a hurry.
And yeah.. or early mornings in today's case.

Fixed up now anyway.

By GMC, at June 09, 2010 6:41 pm
i dont understand why a shoulder charge like that needs a citing or a suspension. yellow card- maybe/probably depending on the situation. In this context I feel a yellow is justified.

the second incident is just bizzare as it appears he doesnt really tackly him, but just sort of shoulder charges into his hip. outrageous that no on caught that.

By miguel, at June 09, 2010 7:08 pm
Fair play to his team mate for going up the tackler in the 3rd incident. Terrible stuff.

First hit was very good though

By Third Centre, at June 09, 2010 7:27 pm
Haha Nice hitz! Dat made my day mate!haha Lol at da last one..G00d sh0t but illegal!hehe Ish funny h0w the other mate wanted t0 help giteau by fightin a FIJIAN??haha R u seri0us?hehe Hav a Gud day mates!!haha

By Knox, at June 09, 2010 7:40 pm
the samoans of late have been soft(excpet henry tuilagi) but the fijians are still playing tough.. i admire their aggressiveness.. i just wished they were a little more controlled(legal)

that 3rd incident needs to stop!!

big ups to the fijian cousins!!

By islandstylin', at June 10, 2010 12:38 am
Nothing new here, standard tactics of a minnow nation against a better team. Canada vs SA and NSW vs B&I Lions come to mind.

But seriously though, in the history of rugby, when has physically targeting a playmaker ever resulted in a guaranteed win for the other team?

By Bot, at June 10, 2010 12:39 am
Yeah... Great tackles... Look at the score! Their defence must have really been awesome. And I don't even like Giteau...

By Gman, at June 10, 2010 1:29 am
Cau Cau's tackle on Adam Ashley-Cooper was worse than all 3 of those...! I was a bit disappointed that Cau Cau wasn't more involved in the game... I guess he didn't get the ball enough. Thank the Fijian halfback for that, he was useless... he kicked way to much.

By Nicko, at June 10, 2010 4:20 am
Cau cau got the ball a few times, but just couldn't do anything with it.

By Anonymous, at June 10, 2010 6:53 am
same ref fr last yr nov tour Samoa vs Wales. no wonder why Samoa loose that game if i recall.

By Anonymous, at June 10, 2010 1:12 pm
3rd hit should have been red, no doubt. When the refs refuse to do anything, it's time for the enforcers to step up. Where was Elsom during all of this?

By Anonymous, at June 10, 2010 7:17 pm
he was talking to the ref.
Australia isn;t really that kind of team anymore anyway, very few teams are.
Discipline is to crucial to success to go around enforcing justice the way they used to.

By Tim, at June 11, 2010 2:36 am
I hate the fact that fijians understand they can't win this matches and tehrefore start hitting like crazy in order to get something.

They complain (along with the tongans and samoans) that nobody will play against them. Of course nobody wants to play with you when you act like the stupid bully!

Shame their good players were available. Except from Seru Rabeni, the european based fijians know their office and tackle -almost-within the laws.

By Joost, at June 11, 2010 5:16 am
Joost, don't be like that.
I've seen much rougher and more illegal stuff from South African teams in the past when they're losing.
Don't have a go at the islanders and tar them all with the same brush like that.

By Jim, at June 11, 2010 6:27 am
Wow somehow South Africa gets brought up on a totally unrelated thread, again. It's tough at the top.

By Flinto, at June 11, 2010 9:09 am
It's no disrespect to them, they are a great team. The fact is though, when you define yourself by physicallity, which the Saffers do with great success, sometimes you overstep the boundries.
The point isn't that the Saffers are bad, simply that the Fijians are not bad guys for going overboard and are no more likely to put in ilegal tackles than the South africans.
The ref is the one who's supposed to keep that stuff in check. he's the one who should get critisized in this game.

By Jim, at June 11, 2010 9:38 am
Yeah, good thing it's rugby afterall, not tiddlywinks.

Perhaps if other sides had the physicality or channelled aggression of the aforementioned sides, they'd be a lot more intimidating. The Wallabies for example, have always been a little too soft, imo. Great side, and have won two world cups, but I've always felt that if they had a few real hard bastards, they'd be a far tougher prospect to play against.

By Flinto, at June 11, 2010 10:27 am
Jim, we all know hta around 80% of the high/late/illegal tackles posted in this site belong to islanders. That's the problem - they base the game around dazzling breaks, crazy stepping and crushing hits, instead of making the basics well.

Get McGeechan down there and I bet in a year they are playing solidly.

By Joost, at June 11, 2010 6:47 pm