Is this tackle OK?

[smartcooky]

I have put this poll up as a result of a discussion that has been taking place on the referees forum, and I would like to get some opinion about this, predominantly from the player/supporter perspective.

The discussion relates to differing perceptions of what constitutes a "Dangerous Tackle".

The Law states...

[TEXTAREA]LAW 10.4 (e) Dangerous tackling. A player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously.
Sanction: Penalty kick[/TEXTAREA]

It then goes on to describe some examples

[textarea]
A player must not tackle (or try to tackle) an opponent above the line of the shoulders even if the tackle starts below the line of the shoulders. A tackle around the opponent's neck or head is dangerous play.
Sanction: Penalty kick

A 'stiff-arm tackle' is dangerous play. A player makes a stiff-arm tackle when using a stiff arm to strike an opponent.
Sanction: Penalty kick

Playing a player without the ball is dangerous play.
Sanction: Penalty kick

A player must not tackle an opponent whose feet are off the ground.
Sanction: Penalty kick [/textarea]

The sticking point is the phrase in the first line "early, late or dangerously." "Early" is easy to work out, and so is "late", but dangerously could mean anything, and apart from the examples, appear to be left up to the referee's discretion

Please view the video first

[video=youtube;mPd9aT8PXJg&rel=0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPd9aT8PXJg&rel=0[/video]

Then please read the options carefully before you vote.

When/if you vote, you are going to indicate whether you are based in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) or Southern Hemisphere (SH), and give your opinion as the whether or not this tackle is OK or a PK as various levels of the game.

NOTE: I'm not so much interested in any justification for your opinion, but feel free to comment. I just want to know what you think.

 

[lynam1104]

I'm in the NH and I believe the tackle is fine not high, late or early. In fact it is IMO a great tackle.

 

[smartcooky]

So choose that in the poll

 

[lynam1104]

Wasn't there when is now and I did

 

[Conal]

not high not late used arms and shoulders
hit an unprepeared opponent hard if lima had done the exact same say aginst a second row who was prepeared would look no where near as bad

 

[TRF C A Iversen]

I voted fine and legal, but I honestly have to say that it's not something I applaud. It appears not to be Lima's intention to hit an unprepared player (as he couldn't have predicted that juggle), but it does appear to be an attempt to hit a player hard the split second after he has received the ball. Of course that's legal, but I just feel that the object behind tackling in that way is to knock a guy hard enough when he's not ready, so as to possibly injure him, or attempt to instil hesitance or fear. It's the kind of thing that changes the focus of rugby play from skill, running, passing, catching, setting up the ball and all the best techniques to finding away around all that by merely smashing the player as hard as you can.

It has an element of timing (a lot in this particular example), but is also kind of cheap in it's goals.

 

[Gavin]

Perfect tackle

 

[nickdnz]

I don't mind it. It's up to a team to not put a player in that kind of position. This may be a poor analogy but if tackles like this were stopped, it seems the equivelent of limiting the horsepower in a dragster.

 

[Easdon]

It's a pretty iconic video because it's a fantastic tackle. The thing wrong with it is the absolute hospital pass that's delivered which results in that sort of tackle and that's why so much work is done on offloads; this is a prime example of what happens when you don't offload well enough . It isn't high, Lima wraps the arms and uses proper technique. You can tell his technique is flawless because as soon as he's made the hit and got the player to ground he's up and ready to attack the ball before he realises that he's done some damage

 

[Cacambo]

Why would it ever be a penalty? Perfect timing and technique. If you call it dangerous because it was a hard hit, that kind of ruins defense in a contact sport.

 

[lucky number 7]

Perfect.

 

[lhprop1]

Perfectly executed legal tackle. The scrummie should be penalized by the kangaroo court for the hospital pass, though.

 

[zeno]

Great tackle if you can pull it off.

 

[madflyhalf]

The true question must be: "Did Joost go in jail for that attempted-murder pass?"


To me, that tackle is fine

 

[Toko_11]

textbook perfect

 

[coonor]

For me the tackle is fine. I was looking to see if the tackler had used his arm in the tackle and to see whether it was more of a shoulder charge but I judge that he has used his right arm but the force of the impact may make the tackle appear to be a shoulder charge. I would certainly not penalize it but I may tell the tackler to be careful at a low age level.

 

[Feicarsinn]

If it happened to me I'd be fine with it, although the inside man would get a right bollocking when I came to.

 

[Hulk Hogan]

I think it's perfectly fine he had his arms ready to wrap him had old mate Bokke not gotten flattened Lima would have been able to wrap him up.

 

[alex]

It's fine. But ouch.

 

[TRF_heineken]

as a springbok and bulls supporter i cringe everytime i see that tackle, but there's nothing wrong with that tackle... what made the most damage was Derrick Hougaard's confidence, after that game he got picked only 2 or 3 times for the boks again and sucked everytime.

one of my friends is a coach at a local highschool and he made a collage of some big hits to show the youngsters how to tackle properly with effect... this clip is 5 times on his collage...

Bucking Frilliant if you ask me!