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Manu Tuilagi smashes Tom Williams


Top14 player imposter!


JDV smashed by Benoit August


The Northampton Saints 30m scrum!


Bastareaud huge hit on Rory Lamont


All Blacks skills - Pt 2 In the backyard


Trinh-Duc sets up Harinordoquy try


Wales vs England 1999


Greg Holmes great hit on Francois Louw



Thursday, January 06, 2011

Mario Ledesma's big tackle on Joffrey Michel

This is a quick clip of a nice tackle from veteran Argentinian hooker, Mario Ledesma, while playing for Clermont against Perpignan in the Top 14 recently. The tackle itself was a good one, but the fact that Ledesma is 37 years old made it all the more impressive.

While I know that some of you prefer full match highlights, short clips of moments like this are what Rugbydump was built on so when they become available, it's worth sharing, especially when the player in question punches above his weight.

In this case however, you could probably say he's punching above his age, as Ledesma, born way back in 1973, is one of the elder statesman of professional rugby. There's not too many around who are still playing rugby at the highest level close to 40 years old. Can you name some?

Off the top of my head, Brad Thorne and Simon Shaw would be two of the oldest top tier Test players, then in the Top 14 Sireli Bobo for Racing Metro would be one of the oldest wings, but he's only 34. Fellow Fijian Norman Ligairi is also 34, and still looking as pacey as ever.

The match itself was a controversial affair, with a few other incidents taking place that avoided sanction. They'll probably be featured on here over the next few days.

Ledesma, often known for his fiery temperament and competitive nature, timed this tackle perfectly as he shot out the line and smashed Joffrey Michel with a textbook hit.

Not bad for an old timer.


Time: 01:04


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27 Comments:

  • 1st

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 06, 2011 5:11 pm  

  • Alan Quinlan is one of the oldest still playing although hasnt played Test rugby in a couple of years. 36 years old now but career looks like it could be close to an end with his latest elbow injury

    By Anonymous MCB, at January 06, 2011 5:18 pm  

  • Amazing to see an old school hooker sprint out of the line like Bryan Habana and smash someone to cut off the play. On a sidenote, is it not illegal to get to your feet and then flop on top of the tackled player attempting to play the ball?

    By Blogger RedYeti, at January 06, 2011 5:21 pm  

  • all i see is that he's trying to play the ball as he is the tackler so he should have been penalised...

    By Anonymous ruck n ram, at January 06, 2011 5:26 pm  

  • +1 RedYeti
    that's the 2010-2011 rule...
    looking forward to see what the rule will be next year ;)

    By Anonymous ruck n ram, at January 06, 2011 5:29 pm  

  • John Hayes is still getting his game and he's 37, just a few months younger than Ledesma actually.

    Great hit, there's life in the ould fella yet.

    By Anonymous wow-jiffy-lube, at January 06, 2011 5:37 pm  

  • good hit but illegal. Not releasing the tackled player, falling straight over and killing the ball....

    I like rules.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 06, 2011 5:51 pm  

  • ^ Sad case

    By Anonymous Captain Buzzkill, at January 06, 2011 5:59 pm  

  • Danny Grewcock is 38 and still playing in the Premiership...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 06, 2011 6:45 pm  

  • Serge Betsen still playing for the Wasps, I think he scored last week in the english 1st divison (cant remember the name, sponsors and stuff)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 06, 2011 6:56 pm  

  • Martin Williams is 35 and is still as crafty as ever

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 06, 2011 7:25 pm  

  • Hayes 37
    Quinlain 36
    Wallace 34

    Jeez, Munster really have an old pack.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 06, 2011 7:38 pm  

  • Super Mario never die!!!!!

    It was a relatively nice game, very physical with quite some incidents including a nasty uppercut from Cudmore on a USAP player (Le Corvet), which had to leave the field and probably enjoyed and still enjoying eating with a straw. Both players having a long history together. Cudmore was cited after the games (30 weeks???? still to be defined).

    Also including a nice elbow charge from Tuilagi on Rougerie, full speed leading to an injury to his larynx (still injured as far as I know).

    The game was followed by a beautiful football trash talk between both club president in the French press. One asking citing action against Tuilagi and an investigation on the elbow/forearm protection used by Tuilagi while the other referred to his counterpart and his club as upper class morron and using delation tactics like the Neo nazi Vichy french government during WWII......

    I am so glad as a French that we are discussing the real issue such as game play and promoting rugby value......

    New Zeeland here we come.......

    By Anonymous Flipje, at January 06, 2011 8:05 pm  

  • Lecorvec - Cudmore ROUND 3

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40xVbojZCmY

    By Anonymous Flipje, at January 06, 2011 8:29 pm  

  • I reckon he looks nearer to 47 than 37! Credit for playing at that level for so long though.

    By Anonymous Phil, at January 06, 2011 10:12 pm  

  • super mario is still in da place!!!

    By Anonymous xi, at January 06, 2011 10:13 pm  

  • for all the douchbags hattin!!!

    call me when ur 37. sure you won't be on a rugby pitch. Not even in an amateur league. shut up guys and show some respect for the old genius

    By Anonymous dang, at January 06, 2011 10:33 pm  

  • Super Mario rules!
    Hopefully he will have a good RWC this year.

    By Anonymous Jose_GD, at January 07, 2011 12:25 am  

  • Tackler never releases. The refs in France simply don't follow the rules.

    By Anonymous Jono, at January 07, 2011 7:17 am  

  • It should have been a penalty after he failed to release and fell over the ball... but it's a terrific tackle.

    Cudmore is an absolute idiot - the guy has no place in the game and I am amazed he's been given so many opportunities. His record is abysmal, that shot is filthy and cheap... a lifetime ban would be fair.

    By Anonymous Hackney Griffin, at January 07, 2011 10:17 am  

  • Simon Shaw was also born in 1973 - and still putting it in Wasps and England

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 07, 2011 10:56 am  

  • Cudmore just can't stop fighting. Even in League his violence would be considered excessive, and the biff is pretty common place

    By Anonymous Chris, at January 07, 2011 11:27 am  

  • Now that I think about it, it isn't Mario's fault, he was clearly exhausted from rushing out of the line and making the hit, he just needed a lie down on the player ;)

    On a sidenote, Cudmore is fucking scum, the only times I ever hear about him is when he's started a brawl or deliberately injured someone. Why is he still playing?

    By Blogger RedYeti, at January 07, 2011 12:23 pm  

  • great tackle, but agree with all above, never released or got to his feet, the ref had a perfect view, probably didn't want to upset Mario :D

    By Anonymous mat, at January 07, 2011 2:35 pm  

  • Hookers have the most fun....odiouslyyyyyyy

    DEO

    By Anonymous DEO, at January 08, 2011 4:48 am  

  • This site is incredible BECAUSE of this type of post: valuable moments of the game, quick comments. All sports should have a blog like this

    By Blogger Abolafio, at January 10, 2011 1:09 pm  

  • This is an example of why T14 doesn't prepare players well for international rugby.
    In an international game, most refs would penalise MArion for this, and rightly so, it's completely illegal what he did. He never released, started playing the ball without getting to his feet properly, went off his feet and still played the ball.
    He basically just killed the ball illegally, and the ref allowed him to do it.
    Cheating at the ruck is blatant, constant and tolerated in the T14 and it will hurt French rugby long term.
    They will never learn how to play up tempo, high skilled rugby, if their comp tolerates killing the ball constantly at the breakdown.

    By Anonymous Bill, at January 11, 2011 12:38 am  

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