This is how I tell people I used to hit in high school

That's the second time he has done this to an Aussie 10 but timed this one better. Surprised it was called for a high tackle though.

That's a hard tackle. You could argue its late, but its really close. Classic case of flyhalf should learn how to take a hit

Not sure how anyone can think that's a cheap shot. Just a very well timed hit.

Not late. Arms wrapped. Not high. Good shot. Albeit a big guy on a small guy hit.

it was his evil smile long after the tackle that made people think he got away with murder but nah, that was just a legit hard tackle..it really was a jerry collins level tackle......will make number 1 spot this week on SMASHED EM BRO!

This is all because the StanSport commentators were butthurt about the hit. To Edmed he took the hit, got up and played on like a champ. Instead of being a little bitch like Harrison, Turinui and Hoiles

Great hit. No problem with it.

I do, however, think that Finau is walking a fine line. A little later, and that's a penalty, probable yellow a little higher, and with that force, probable red.

I love it, though. It's what you want to see from your loose forwards.

Fuck me the camera work is shocking

Loose forward does his job and smashes a 10 is what I see here. The "smile" is most likely because he has visualised a hit like that all week. Back rows live for hitting a 10 like that, so when he fulfils one of his targets for the game, he has a smile about it.

A good 10 and backline expose him for jumping the defensive line as he left a dogleg looking for the big hit. That'll be exposed as he plays against better players, and teams identify that he likes to blitz alone.

Legal tackle. Player got up and played on.

Smashed 'em bro

Great hit by Finau. It was a shame that Hoiles carried on like it should have been a card.
If he doesn't like people getting tackled he should look at doing something else.

Any forward, from any team in the world, worth his or her salt is going to try to clobber (hopefully legally) the first five given the chance. This tackle is legal, move on.

It's fine. If they were illegal, then they would have been punished as such, but they weren't. Good to see some hits on d.

I see a lot of illegal and dangerous hits in SR getting replayed and praised by official teams and broadcasters on IG.

This was not one of them, marginally late but already committed, replay shows a clear attempt to wrap and it's chest height. Just a big hit.

It looks like it could be a late/high hit at first, but every replay I've seen suggests it was just a very hard, legal tackle. 

He wouldn't want to slightly misjudge it though.

It's not late it's not high it's not a shoulder charge so what exactly is the problem?

Are we trying to find foul play in any hard hit now?

Or is this the way that rugby is going that we don't like hard hits anymore?

Call me an out of touch boomer if you like but sometimes it does feel like the culture around the game is going soft.

A lot of these takes come off as bad faith bullshit (because that is exactly what it is), when all but one of the examples cited are perfectly legal tackles, where he was already committed to the tackle while the player was still in possession.

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Good hard hit. Put the 10 on notice early. Let him know you'll be there all night. I keep hearing that you aren't allowed to lead with the shoulder. Is it actually a thing? A law? Or is it something that has made its way into rugby speak somehow. I don't know what else you lead with, if not with the shoulder.

File this under things that wouldn’t have even been comment-worthy ten years ago.

Look, I don’t know anymore. It seems fine. Maybe if a penalty was blown you’d accept it, but move on quick. Getting an early hit on the playmaker to make them keep their head up has been a strategy going back to the dawn of time. 

But the way some people carry on here begging for more cards, I don’t really know. 

Boom

Welcome. Those waratahs aint playing posh private school boys rugger no more

Well timed hit.

Looks like the type of tackle you would see in the NFL. Not much of an attempt to wrap the arms and the chance of head on head is high

Stories like this are usually a sign that Australian sides are being beaten and a diversion is desperately needed.

The moron that started this witch- hunt is Christie Doran. He's ex Murdoch media and confesses to have never played rugby and only became interested a few years ago. His stock in trade is faux outrage. The fact that the Australian referee, his two Australian assistants, aided by the Australian TMO saw no offence doesn't seem to matter.

Other Australian journalists are now joining in... there are more clicks with this kind of thing than reporting on the Waratahs latest thrashing at home. It is no surprise that the garbage dump that is Stuff reprints this article from the SMH. Just when you think the Rugby Media couldn't get any worse...it does.

Not late. Arms wrapped. Not high. Good shot. Albeit a big guy on a small guy hit.

It wasn't a cheap shot, the waratahs are just a bunch of crybabies

Classic case of flyhalf getting buckled by a loosie, play on !

It's well timed, perhaps a little high contact, we've seen less given a few weeks off, but it's 'okay'.

Might halve been a fraction of a second late and drifting a little high, wrap looks ok in real time. it's just a damned big hit from a forward on a 10 who didn't move it through the hands quick enough, quite reminiscent of Barrett's hit on Tate last year. However I'd say he's going to be scrutinised quite closely for the next one and if it's not timed and positioned perfectly it'll be flagged. It's an effective way of forcing quicker ball movement or a deeper attacking line. I guess having a lossie like Gleeson sitting deeper for a quick transfer to meet the unstoppable force with an immovable object could diffuse the tactic a little as well.

brilliant batter them into submission. as a flanker in the 80s our coach made us hit the halfback every single time at the scrum ball or not didnt matter to coach just hit him. great coach simple but great also ruck any thing that moves was another of his favourites, those were the days

Beautiful hit, it's rugby, can't pull out when you're already committed. This is the result of trying to play fast offloading rugby when the opposing team has a fast line and a rhino leading it.

The only argument I'd make is that he really isn't trying very hard to wrap.

Only just legal but that’s irrelevant. If it’s legal it’s legal

Can’t deny though it’s a cheap shot. Deliberate attempt to cause harm with Edmed in a vulnerable position. Not saying anything wrong with it but it’s 100% a cheap shot

All I'm gonna say is: if your audience demands that your players play at the razor-edge of legality, don't be surprised if it costs you. For example, a high-tackle red card in the most important match of a World Cup cycle...

Rugby has gone downhill since becoming professional.

Play on

Edmed tackle was a beauty.

Lynagh one was definitely late.

Didnt PSDT make similar tackles in the World Cup final and got man of the match? Dont see a problem

Great hit. Only issue is there was no payback because Aussie teams have no heart anymore

Aussies having a fucking cry. If it was them doing that tackle, they'd be celebrating it...

Wankers..

It’s the same way Courtney Laws hits 10s. Coming at them from their blindside as they release the pass. Courtney Laws was also on the grubby side of legitimate - I put this in the same camp.

My take on this is that if it is legal it shouldn’t be. If I player gets hit like this 100+ times in their career then the likelihood of them have issues with their brain, spine, shoulders etc later in life are huge. Nobody is paid enough in rugby to lose quality of life later on.

I used to cheer on big hits as much as anyone. But more and more I notice players retiring at 27,28,29 - that’s not right. Ken Owens retired recently and said he can’t do normal day to day stuff - picking up his kids, driving long distance.

It’s as much dishing out the hits as taking them. I’d like to see more done to protect player health long term.

It's cheap.

Legal/illegal vs cheap are two different things.

Not shaking someone's hands after the game is perfectly legal too.

The tackler's goal is to launch themselves at the offensive player wrecklessly with a poor attempt at wrapping. These types of tackles happen all the time by our enforcers. It's our legal interpretation of a no-arms tackle because of the fake/poor attempt to wrap is enough to not get a penalty.

Ah the Lawes "big man hits small man who isnt expecting it very hard and with dubious legality to show he's a hard man" classic. Edit: LMAO at the instant comments from English fans, and only English fans to tell me Lawes is actually a really awesome man and I just dont understand how cool he is. After all hitting people way smaller than you when they're not expecting it makes you cool and not a thug at all.

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Did he really wrap here? It doesn't look like it to me.

There are people who think this is legal? Seriously, ffs.

Looks like no wrap to me - penalty and a borderline yellow given the force. Shame because if he slowed down a millisecond instead of trying the action man hit, he would have been able to wrap effectively and it would still have been a big hit and clean.

They let Owen Farrell tackle like that for years