Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Morgan Stoddart's slam tackle on Leigh Halfpenny

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Morgan Stoddart's slam tackle on Leigh Halfpenny

This is a short clip from Friday night's Magners League match played in Cardiff as Scarlets beat the Blues 16-10. It was a low scoring affair with two nice tries but not too much else to write home about, other than this big tackle in the first half.

Morgan Stoddart made the hit on opposite number Leigh Halfpenny and despite putting on a good poker face and arguing his point to the ref, was penalised as it was viewed as dangerous by the touch judge.

Based on recent occurrences, the tackle might have been worthy of a yellow card, but in Stoddart’s favour was the fact that he brought the player to ground ‘safely’, albeit on the back of his neck in what looked more like a wrestling move than a rugby tackle.

It could be viewed as an awesome tackle for some, but reckless and dangerous for others. It probably depends which side of the fence you sit on. Stoddart was actually yellow carded a few minutes later though as he failed to roll away after making a tackle close to his tryline.

Halfpenny wasn’t injured, and continued on but later picked up an ankle injury, causing an injury scare for the national team. Coach Dai Young said he will be fit though ahead of the series against Australia, South Africa, Fiji and New Zealand.

Stoddart himself limped off in the second half after picking up a hamstring niggle.

Time: 01:42

ROCK BOTTOM!

By Harls, at October 24, 2010 7:11 pm
i can't really say if its bad or not, jerry collins uses it a lot to turn the tackler over

By Anonymous, at October 24, 2010 7:28 pm
Shocking ref that game

By WelshOsprey, at October 24, 2010 7:31 pm
hard to say...suppose it is a little dangerous,good call from the touch judge though,didnt deserve a yellow

By Leeners93, at October 24, 2010 8:11 pm
"Shocking ref that game"

He was. Both sides were awful too. (From a Blues supporter.)

He did the same thing to Tom James i think, i couldn't really see in the ground but he got a yellow for some kind of tackle.

By Anonymous, at October 24, 2010 8:27 pm
thats just stuiped he picked him up and put him on his back albeit very hard but still. nothing wrong with that tackle should of been played on

By creggs08, at October 24, 2010 8:38 pm
I think I used to do that one in Streets of Rage on the Sega Megadrive....

By Matthew, at October 24, 2010 8:42 pm
Ouch! Something from professionally wrestling!

Was a little dangerous, as he did come down on his upper-back/neck area. Penalty. Maybe a yellow.

By Maverick, at October 24, 2010 9:28 pm
Typical NH refs and touchies and players...

In the SH it would have been fine....

He could have brought him down on his head and it would have been fine, just these whistle happy refs and poof football supporting NH people that cry about this stuff!

By Resident Troll, at October 24, 2010 9:40 pm
I think it looks bad because of th way he landed. If he'd flipped him over onto his side then it would have been fine. I don't think it's anything to get too upset about.

RD for a fairly amusing bit of commentary try and get the bit where the ball takes out the commentator in the Exeter vs Irish match. Quite amusing that an ex player can catch or throw.

By Nick, at October 24, 2010 9:42 pm
Resident Troll you are an idiot. The fact that you think southern hemisphere players would be ok with a tackle like that and not be upset with a team mate being handled in such a way tells me that you are an idiot

By God, at October 24, 2010 9:54 pm
Stoddart was a wrestler???

By Anonymous, at October 24, 2010 9:57 pm
Looked reckless to me - the tacklee wasn't "brought to ground safely", it was just luck, a couple more degrees in angle and the neck could have been severely sprained or worse.

By Meridian, at October 24, 2010 10:32 pm
Nothing wrong with it at all.
Soft penalty.

By Jono, at October 24, 2010 11:29 pm
And on the seventh day, God failed to create sarcasm

By Sarcastic Troll, at October 25, 2010 1:04 am
Yay ! German suplex !!! Penalty for dangerous play...

By Nathan, at October 25, 2010 1:39 am
That was a fair tackle. You cant penalise a tackler for doing his homework in core strengthening.

By EARugbyFan, at October 25, 2010 1:40 am
damn, you guys are idiots. I like agressive rugby but not when its dangerous. There must be a boundry between what's ok and what can just fuck up a tackled player for life. Landing on the head or neck, arms on the neck and stuff like that are not ok. when something like that happens to you in a game you wont find it so amazing and ok. probably you dont even play the game, or you wouldnt think that way. fuckin retards

By Carlos da Costa, at October 25, 2010 2:01 am
Sarcastic Troll said...
And on the seventh day, God failed to create sarcasm

And in your case he failed to create wit which is why you sarcasm didn't work.

By Tony, at October 25, 2010 2:02 am
He got dumped on his back, it's not dangerous to land on your back.
Nothing wrong with it.

By Tom, at October 25, 2010 5:22 am
if its an islander... surely yellow or RED hahahaha!

By Kahn, at October 25, 2010 6:26 am
Not dangerous, should have even been play on (debatable to an extent)

I too agree that it could have turned out dangerous (maybe why the penalty ensued) but to penalise or send off players for something that could have happened is ridiculous. To me its like awarding a try that COULD have been scored, or penalising a player in a ruck who COULD have touched it with his hands.

I would have just spoke to the player at the next stoppage to warn him.

Just think, he gets a yellow...team is hugely disadvantaged...big game in heinekin cup slips away..spectacle ruined.

By Anonymous, at October 25, 2010 7:56 am
What a joke of a call. If that's illegal we might aswell ban any sort of lifting all together.

The prawn-sandwich eating governing bodies and referees are gonna kill this sport sooner or later if they keep this up

By Chris, at October 25, 2010 8:28 am
"to penalise or send off players for something that could have happened is ridiculous."

No, that is exactly what the dangerous play rules are for. What would be ridiculous is to only penalise when a player actually breaks his neck.

"To me its like awarding a try that COULD have been scored"

That's called a penalty try.

Some of us have actually played the game. An unfortunate few have also seen clubmates end up in wheelchairs, which is why I for one welcome the rules.

By Meridian, at October 25, 2010 8:34 am
Meridian, your worng, in my opinion.
This is not only not dangerous, it's not potentially dangerous.
He got dumped on his back.
If it's dangerous to get dumped on your back, every tackle is dangerous, and scrums are damn near life-threatening.
It doesn't make sense to penalise someone for nearly breaking the rules.
You either have broken the rules or you haven't.
In thuis case he picks a guy up and slams him on his back.
Which is fine under every law in the game.
Stupid penalty.

By Jono, at October 25, 2010 9:02 am
I am all for strict rule for dangerous tackles but you have to take each case on what happened - in this case Halfpeny landed on his back - therefore Not dangerous.
I am sick of this NH/SH shit though - we all play the same game with the same rule book.

It was very almost a dangerous tackle but the ref wanted to be sure he didnt land on his head/neck so blew up - fair enough. Ref's are under so much pressure these days.

No yellow - maybe a free kick would have been more appropriate?

By Bradders, at October 25, 2010 9:55 am
fair call

By rosh, at October 25, 2010 12:24 pm
My word is absolute.

But on a serious note, I am a Orthopaedic consultant so I know a bit about this kind of injury. You cannot tell me that this is medically safe.

You may argue that, in this case, halfpenny was fine so really there should have been no penatly.

But its is the possibilty of injury from being inverted in a tackle such as this which the ref has given a penatly for. I agree fully with the decision.

By God, at October 25, 2010 12:30 pm
A player from a French team or a Springbok would have get at least a yellow card and couple of weeks of ban !!!!

By Anonymous, at October 25, 2010 1:47 pm
I think he got his technique a little wrong whilst trying to turn halfpenny in the tackle (as someone said earlier)....What is clear to me is that he wrapped in the tackle, controlled to a certain extent the grounding of the player and kept his arms way below the neck...........

Therefore although a little reckless he probably didn't deserve a card. Not even sure about the penalty. Personally I think the ref should have got him to calm down a wee bit and card him for a lack of control if he did something like it again.

And yes Resident Troll I am a whinging pom/NH jessie! Getting a bit bored of the NH/SH p*ss people keep coming out with...it doesn't really do anything but create a series of juvenile arguments. Why don't you just blog on youtube if you want to do this?

By NiWiTa, at October 25, 2010 1:48 pm
"That's called a penalty try."

No, a penalty try is a try which WOULD have been scored.

By Anonymous, at October 25, 2010 3:03 pm
A player from a French team or a Springbok would have get at least a yellow card and couple of weeks of ban !!!!

What an idiot. The player who got the card was Welsh. The referee considered it a yellow card offense so naturally if a Welsh player would get a yellow, so would a French or South African player.

Stop whining about unfair punishment against French or South African. The cases have been discussed here before and usually the punishment has been deemed fair.

I'm guessing you're French by the way as South Africans don't complain so much nor are they so blinded by their support of the player being discussed.

PS Attoub should be banned for life. He is a cowardly scumbag, his nationality is irrelevant.

By KG, at October 25, 2010 3:13 pm
KG said...
South Africans don't complain so much nor are they so blinded by their support of the player being discussed.

kof! kof! – sorry, nearly choked on my sandwich.

By Jimi, at October 25, 2010 3:34 pm
Who complained on this occasion? A French supporter.

Who complained about the Cudmore incident? A French supporter(s).

Who complains whenever a vid is posted about a ban or card, be it a French player, a player in a French league or otherwise? A French supporter(s).

Can't remember the last time a SA fan complained about a ban / card. Even when the Bakkies headbutt occurred, most SA fans agreed with the call. Some French fans still think there was a conspiracy to get Attoub banned and that he didn't put his fingers in Ferris' eye, despite a photograph showing him doing so.

And I'm not South African by the way.

By KG, at October 25, 2010 4:38 pm
Well, as far as I know the definition of a "flip" means lifting the legs of the carrier above the shoulders and I think it's an automatic card.
I know this doesn't sound anything serious but if the point is to stop the situation from getting worse, that actually isn't a bad point to draw the line.

By vinniechan, at October 25, 2010 6:13 pm
and by the way, I am using the law after (and as far I know, first saw this interpretation in the 3N)it seemed to have been changed so no point arguing from what happened last year.

By vinniechan, at October 25, 2010 6:16 pm
That's a yellow card, is a dangerous tackle, what else?

By Lucius, at October 25, 2010 7:57 pm
Def yellow

By Anonymous, at October 25, 2010 8:23 pm
Can't believe how soft rugby fans are getting.

If this is a yellow then any text book tackle where you go low, lift your man and slam him on his back is a yellow.

Jeeze what's happening to the game. 5 years ago nobody would bat an eyelid at this.

By Chris, at October 25, 2010 10:17 pm
An unfortunate few have also seen clubmates end up in wheelchairs, which is why I for one welcome the rules.

-----------

I know plenty of blokes with broken necks from scrums.

Shall we ban those? They're the most dangerous aspect of Rugby, above and beyond anything in the game. Nothing comes close to the dangers of the scrum. Why are they legal.

If this tackle is illegal because of the perceived dangers by the referee then why doesn't the ref refuse to allow scrums?

You can't just use the 'it's dangerous' line, because on the same principle we should outlaw most aspects of rugby.

By Chris, at October 25, 2010 10:22 pm
Laws have been tightened in the scrums to try to reduce injuries there, as the laws have also been tightened in other areas such as the tackle.

I sometimes wonder if I'm watching the same video as some posters - the impact is in slow motion and clearly shows that the initial contact on the ground is with the shoulder/traps/head, with the lower torso almost vertical and the legs 4 feet off the ground. A front-on tackle driving a man into the ground at that angle with his legs that high would almost certainly be illegal.

By Meridian, at October 25, 2010 11:13 pm
To the orthapedic surgeon, sorry mate, but if we are going to make things illegal that might result in orthapedic injuries, we should just stop playing rugby.
Meridian, this sort of tackle is not dangerous.
He got landed on his back.
The worst that happens in this situation is you get winded.
It wasn't a spear tackle, he didn't get dumped on his head or neck.
It wasn't high (I hoenstly don't know how you could call that a high tackle, that is just nuts).
He picked him up, slammed him on his back.
Good tackle.
Not illegal.
Not dangerous.
The guy was fine.

Soft penalty.

By Tom, at October 26, 2010 12:45 am
i broke my collarbone with a tackle like this one

By jacob, at October 26, 2010 1:15 am
'And in your case he failed to create wit which is why you sarcasm didn't work.'

Except it wasnt sarcastic trolls comment, it was mine.

Its funny how everyone assumes im from the NH because of my comments....perhaps Im from the SH or the equator even and just find it highly amusing at the bullshit comments that bounce around!

By Resident Troll, at October 26, 2010 1:23 pm
You'd actually be correct in assuming I'm from the NH, but it's still funny how everyone assumes this.

By Resident Troll, at October 26, 2010 2:31 pm
'Resident Troll said...
You'd actually be correct in assuming I'm from the NH, but it's still funny how everyone assumes this.'

Except I didnt write this...
unless ofcourse you believe I'd wait 1 hour and 8 mins to p.s my own comment....

1:23 PM
2:31 PM

By Resident Troll, at October 26, 2010 3:20 pm
'Except I didnt write this...
unless ofcourse you believe I'd wait 1 hour and 8 mins to p.s my own comment....

1:23 PM
2:31 PM'

Someone's using my name again...
you can't troll the Resident Troll mate, I'll win...

By Resident Troll, at October 26, 2010 4:25 pm
Resident Troll, no one gives a flying f*ck who you are or where you come from. Get over yourself?? Find some humility and comment on the vids like everyone else. Your comments are lame mate.

By Flinto, at October 26, 2010 4:33 pm
Hmm, I think refs are over reacting o stuff like this. I mean, I'm kind of an old school rugby fan, I like the cammaderie, the beers, the big tackles, the beers, the "good tackle you just made on me, mate" kind of stuff, and the beers.

But I think rugby is getting too soft. If I made a tackle like this in a game and got penalised for it I wouldn't complain to the ref but I would ask him after the game what I did wrong. I'm only 19 so maybe I didn't had a chance to see those battles that were rugby matches in the 70's-80's, but I've been playing for 11 years now and definitely like the sport, but kinda troubled to see where the game is going. Respect and real manhood is what separates us from other sports an we shouldn't take them apart.

Ah, by the way, I think the tackle's not illegal. Landed on his back.

Cheers

By Juggernauter, at October 26, 2010 10:02 pm
deffinite yellow

By Anonymous, at October 26, 2010 11:57 pm
deffinite yellow

By Anonymous, at October 26, 2010 11:57 pm
Two points:

""to penalise or send off players for something that could have happened is ridiculous."

Perhaps we should legalise drink driving? If you make it home safe, well done! If you smash into some children and kill them, well then we might punish you... ^^

Also Chris - I see your obsession with being 'soft' continues. I can't helping there's something Freudian going on here.

By Mike, at October 27, 2010 10:03 am
Interesting comment Flinto...

I dont quite understand the 'get over myself part' care to elaborate...

as for the 'no one cares where you come from' part, well, evidently they do as there have been a fair few comments regarding my particular location on our globe....as people dont take kindly to my over reacting comments....

...however as explained before, im merely highlighting the moronic behaviour displayed by many posters from a neutral or 'unknown' hemisphere.....

....p.s. thankyou for being a prime candidate for moronic behaviour, this is a comment page, so I can comment however I please and RD can remove it if RD feels it doesnt belong....

or maybe you'd care to set up an 'un-lame basis for us all to set our comments on'...

"get over yourself"

By Resident Troll, at October 27, 2010 3:49 pm
"Perhaps we should legalise drink driving? If you make it home safe, well done! If you smash into some children and kill them, well then we might punish you... ^^"

It's not an equivilant comparison.
Driving drunk has no real correlation to tackling in a rugby game, it's an unfair compariosn and feeds into the hysterical reactions some people have to an illegal tackle.

Besides, a more apt comparison would be to say if a guy is below the blood alchohol level which is considered to be dangerous, but only by a little bit, do you lock him up because he almost broke the law?

It's like saying if a guy comes close to doing something wrong, but doesn't actually do it, he should be punished.

It's bullshit.

By Anonymous, at October 28, 2010 2:48 am
That was me ^

By Tom, at October 28, 2010 2:48 am
Pause the video on 1:24 and then tell me he brought him down safely!!! IMO unintentional but still very dangerous! Yes, Halfpenny was ok but that was more luck than judgement. HP head was on the floor and his spine at a 90 degree angle. Before commenting watch it again, closely!

p.s. please stop with the Macho bullshit. This is not a dating site and no-one is impressed by EA Sports Rugby players!!

By Jimbo, at October 29, 2010 11:47 pm