Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Luke Fitzgerald hit on Doug Howlett, & Ronan O'Gara flattened by Isa Nacewa

Friday, June 03, 2011

Luke Fitzgerald hit on Doug Howlett, & Ronan O'Gara flattened by Isa Nacewa

Last weekend the Magners League Grand Final took place in Ireland, with Munster beating Leinster to come through 19-9 winners. Here's two big moments from the game that are worth seeing again.

While both of these came from the losing side, Leinster, they're definitely two of the bigger hits that took place, and have been much requested over the course of the last week.

That's not to say that these were the only great things that happened in the game though. Anything but. It was an incredibly intense derby match and both sides produced some highly impressive defensive efforts. Special mention to Felix Jones and David Wallace of Munster, who both made match winning tackles, with Jones in particular being a rock at the back.

After a bit of a discussion about it on the Rugbydump Facebook Page, it was decided that even though these two moments came from the same team, and the one that lost the match, they were two that neutral fans would most enjoy seeing. So here they are.

First up is Luke Fitzgerald and his cracking tackle on Doug Howlett. Cracking is an apt description too, because the Irish winger actually came off second best, even though it was he who knocked down the All Black legend.

Howlett's former Auckland Blues teamate Isa Nacewa then had a big charge up field, picking out Ronan O'Gara and pretty much flattening him, with ROG hitting his head hard on the ground. In typical fashion though, he got up, took some time to recover, and played on. For those who didn't watch the game, he did attempt the next penalty kick, but pushed it wide.

at least i have prevented someone declaring "1st!"...

By 2nd, at June 03, 2011 4:44 pm
2 huge hits. but i would also like 2 see felixs tackles and also wallys. try savers...

By cian, at June 03, 2011 4:48 pm
felix jones, would love to see him get a proper chance in an ireland jersey! Looks like a great defensive fullback

By Anonymous, at June 03, 2011 4:50 pm
finally some good hits! this site has been easy going on the big hit vids recently :P

By Benh, at June 03, 2011 4:51 pm
would be great to see Marcus Horan's deliberate hit taking out O' Driscoll again. just to show what a dirty player he is

By Anonymous, at June 03, 2011 4:51 pm
ronan o gara is a class act until it comes to tackling.

By Anonymous, at June 03, 2011 4:53 pm
O'gara is the worst tackler ever, any doubts..?

By Anonymous, at June 03, 2011 4:55 pm
ROGs technique to bring some one down is along the lines of getting bounced to the floor and hoping someone trips over his face... still compared to Cipriani ROG is a destructive tackling machine

By Anonymous, at June 03, 2011 4:58 pm
get out the way you muppet

By Anonymous, at June 03, 2011 5:14 pm
Great hit by Jedward ok. Nacewa bounced poor ROG. Munster still won handily enough mind you.

By Anonymous, at June 03, 2011 5:28 pm
Love how ROG never tries to tackle anyone and just stands in the way to slow them down. Still, I guess, does a better job than Cips.

Two horribly overrated players though, Fitz and ROG. Love seeing ROG get flattened but I really wish Fitz could make stellar performances week in week out... he's too inconsistent. And only scored 2 tries as an international winger..hmmm...

By ya, at June 03, 2011 5:31 pm
the way POC was screaming at ROG to get up was crazy!

By Don, at June 03, 2011 5:33 pm
^ Yeah it looks like O'Connell was just sick of seeing ROG on the ground after failing to make a tackle.

Fitz has been looking good lately. Hopefully he'll be in form for the World Cup.

By New Centre Pairing, at June 03, 2011 5:41 pm
"A little bit lower ronan"
brilliant !

By Anonymous, at June 03, 2011 5:54 pm
nice one fitzgerald, about time you made a decent impact.

as for o'gara, there is no reason that any 10 should be smashed back by a fullback. nacewa is travelling at speed and he tries to take him across the shoulders. i dont care how well you can kick a ball, mate, my nan tackles better than you.

By ben10, at June 03, 2011 6:14 pm
Thank you rugbyDump, this past week has been terrific.

By Michael, at June 03, 2011 6:14 pm
Hey RD, you got any footage of BOD's pass and his tackle from nowhere?

Two of the best plays of the past month

By TheWatchMan, at June 03, 2011 6:20 pm
"Two horribly overrated players though, Fitz and ROG. Love seeing ROG get flattened but I really wish Fitz could make stellar performances week in week out... he's too inconsistent. And only scored 2 tries as an international winger..hmmm..."

Fitz is not shit. Just a bad run of form. Watch any match from before he got injured and he was world class. Split defenses open single handedly. By the way, half of those matches he didn't play on the wing. He plays centre and full back as well, mate.

As for ROG, just look at his stats. You can't argue with them. He is a world class player and he has proved that repeatedly at international level and at Munster. Everyone knows he's not the best tackler (although he's gotten better - he smashed some forward a few weeks ago at full pace somehow), but he still tries anyone who comes at him. And to be fair, he gets them most of the time.

By Anonymous, at June 03, 2011 6:33 pm
Paul O'Connell -- "ASK YOURSELF "DID I GET FLATTENED? DID I DO MY BEST TO GET RUN OVER?"

Ronan O'Gara -- "Who am I amd why am I here?"

POC -- "Fair Enough."

By cheyanqui, at June 03, 2011 6:49 pm
and as much as ROG is an insufferable twat -- he's brilliant at closing the deal for his teams.

his kicking for the corners to gain territory or pressure a team trying to catch up is as good as it gets.

By cheyanqui, at June 03, 2011 6:51 pm
Gotta respect ROG for putting his body on the line. He must know that he is going to get bounced off the floor when he steps in front of players bigger and more powerful than him, but he does it anyway. Compared to Cipriani, or a couple of the French fly halves, he's fearless

By RedYeti, at June 03, 2011 6:57 pm
I'm a huge ROG fan (because he's one of the greatest kickers the game has seen), but I love seeing him put in his place when he attempts crappy "tackles" like this. It's just simply bad form - so it'd be good for any aspiring rugby player to see this is what happens when you try to hug a guy instead of wrap up under his waist.

I feel Cipriani gets a bit of a bad reputation here...is he really that bad of a tackler? I mean, he plays in the same league as Quade Cooper; is the former any more of a turnstile than the latter?

By orange, at June 03, 2011 10:08 pm
lol at mongster

By Anonymous, at June 03, 2011 10:47 pm
'O'gara is the worst tackler ever, any doubts..?'

http://rugbydump.blogspot.com/2008/09/alesana-tuilagis-big-charge-and-hit-vs.html

This guy is worse, he's such a liability L Irish would get him to play No. 8 in defensive scrums.

By Anonymous, at June 03, 2011 11:01 pm
lol ronan o gara is hilarious

By ElTigre, at June 03, 2011 11:09 pm
So Munster didnt make any hits then?? BS

By Anonymous, at June 03, 2011 11:23 pm
I love how you can here O'Connel screaming, GET UP RONAN. O'Gara can not tackle for his life.

By Dave, at June 03, 2011 11:41 pm
everyone is on the rofl-copter about munster thinking they are good =D

By Anonymous, at June 04, 2011 1:01 am
on 1.05 seconds is that poc shouting getting up ROG???

By Anonymous, at June 04, 2011 1:03 am
MUNSTER ARE SHIT COMPARED TO LEIGHIN

By Anonymous, at June 04, 2011 1:06 am
One of the every few # 10's ever

By Anonymous, at June 04, 2011 2:54 am
O'Gara has balls of steel.

Look, I'm probably about his size and I must admit I probably wouldn't have the guts to even take the field against the monsters he's expected to tackle, ( not that Nacewa is exactly a monster, but you get the idea).

As someone above mentioned, he must know he's going to get smashed but he still has a go. Never shirks the opportunity to at least slow the oppo down.

Why no-one has not helped him to adopt a minimum competence in tackling technique is beyond my understanding, but for sheer tenacity and willingness to absorb physical punishment, O'Gara is head and shoulders above most players in the game.

By Von, at June 04, 2011 5:37 am
Looks like we need Schalk Burger to come onto the field and claim Luke's other eye.

Nah just joking, Burger is playing wonderfully this year and is easily the worlds best at the moment.

By Anonymous, at June 04, 2011 6:20 am
It certainly is Ronan's signature move. Here's a carbon copy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6W_hsSRN18

By katman, at June 04, 2011 6:47 am
totally agree with Ya about fitzgerald being waaay overrated - lions tour, what?!

By Chris Boy, at June 04, 2011 10:16 am
Jones is really Ire's on form FB and back (he played on the wing in game he got injured v Ospreys). Best def FB, strong under highball (not as good as Kearney, but who is), great rugby brain, hits good lines (and doesn't overrun like Fitz), and although he runs like a lunatic he is 1 of the fastest backs in Ire (something we seem to lack) and he has kicked goals for UL in the past.

People keep calling Fitzgearld 'world class'. I just have never seen it, always was and is a streaky player. Miss kicks more than he should, ruins multiple try chances a game, 2 tries in 20 odd games is not international stn, terrible confidence under highball. Leinster have better more confident backs that will push him out, Conway, Mcfadden and O'Malley to name 3.

By Anonymous, at June 04, 2011 10:31 am
Yet another episode of Ronan O'Doormat - agree with some of the other posters.

He is without doubt the worst tackler these eyes have ever seen and is it just me or do the Leinster boys especially enjoy doing this to him (I think back to Jamie Heaslip doing exactly the same)?

By Dave, at June 04, 2011 11:16 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-JToT2_ZBo is the Heaslip incident. Youtube is full of "tackles" like this from ROG.

What I find crazy is that he was ALLOWED to continue to play. I'm sure those people treating him knew he was concussed. I thought that should a player be concussed he had to be withdrawn? Were the medics thinking about O'Gara's safety or Munster?

Before commenting I read a post about concussion and it seems the IRB laws were changed yesterday. Changes look much better for player safety. Probably came a few days too late for ROG.

By medicaluke, at June 04, 2011 12:17 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pbljAP8FyI

Even shane williams can put him on his ass

By Anonymous, at June 04, 2011 1:41 pm
ROG is so shit at tackling... it makes me angry....

By Anonymous, at June 04, 2011 5:56 pm
...yeh., ROG tackling sucks balls... so what... the fact his kicking and his handling make up for it ten fold would still have me pick him for 10 for ireland.

By Anonymous, at June 04, 2011 9:26 pm
Yeah, ROG can't tackle at all - although as someone pointed he seems to have suddenly become a bit more physical this year, flattening a prop in a tackle a few weeks ago, and remember him handing off Ross Ford to score a try against Scotland?

But one thing I will agree with is that he has balls of steel. I've never seen someone with such bad technique, or someone who gets blows to the head as often as he does when he 'tackles'. But never once - not ONCE - have I ever seen him try to dodge tackling someone, even though he knows he is going to get hurt.

I respect guts like that, that's what rugby is all about.

By Gav, at June 04, 2011 11:24 pm
Lads, if your gonna slate professional rugby players on this blog at least put your name on it.

By MervynNZ, at June 05, 2011 12:25 am
Indeed you can hear O'Connell yelling at him to get up! That's just classic...

Agree with most of what's been said here. O'Gara's tackling technique is just terrible, but it's true that he never eludes contact (look for a clip in RD called "Jean Bapstiste Elissalde the matador" and you'll see what I mean)

Anyway, is it me or have fly halves gone soft? You see atacking gems like Cooper, Cipriani and O'Gara, who can't really make a hit. Ah, I guess the old school of big no. 10 tacklers such as Stephen Jones, Butch James and Jonny Wilkinson are over!

Cheers

By Juggernauter, at June 05, 2011 1:21 am
I have a huge amount of respect for ROG as despite his well publicised weakness in defence he moves up in the line all the same. It would be easy to shield him behind David Wallace or push him out. I actively watched him in Munsters last game and hes actually fairly solid when hes simply soak tackling runners, its just when hes isolated in open play or caught in a size mismatch he can be a bit frail. Conversely, if thats the kind of support Paul O'Connell gives his team mate after a smack to the head, my respect for him has plumetted. ROG knows he got flattened, and O'Connell knows he knows it, you should just pat him on the back and put it behind you.

By Michael, at June 05, 2011 4:13 pm
Michael,

What POC was doing there was telling a man to get up to plug a gap in the line, in case the player (ROG in this case) was just taking a breather, or stayed down because he thought the game was stopped. If a player is seriously injured, they will stay down. If not, this kind of driving on by their teammates will push people to do stuff that they normally couldn't do. This seems to be the Munster ethic - the team is all.

Interesting as well to see O'Driscoll jump up while he was being treated after Horan blindided him off the ball to make a tackle. Some players don't need to have the warrior in them brought to the surface.

By Gav, at June 05, 2011 4:25 pm
rog is a hero ,always body on the line and is never shy when someone picks a fight with him or the other way around,thing is many teams target him,eventually the same thing would happen to any other 10 when you have players targeting you for a whole game

By Anonymous, at June 05, 2011 6:25 pm
POC at 1.02 inspirational, he scares ROG back to his feet even when almost unconscious.

By Shane, at June 07, 2011 4:45 pm
POC at 1:02 inspirational, he scares ROG back to his feet and he almost unconscious, brilliant......

By Shane, at June 07, 2011 4:46 pm