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Thu 8 Mar 2018 | 05:42
Commentators accused of glorifying illegal play after this huge Fijian tackle

26
Comments

Fiji and Russia met at the Las Vegas Sevens, with Fiji easy 38-0 winners. This tackle right in the closing minutes caused a bit of commotion, as Sean Maloney and co-commentators made a lot of noise about it. Some though, were not as impressed. 

Fiji's Vasikali Mudu made the thumping smother-shot on Ilya Babaev, which at first looked good, with physicality being an aspect of rugby that we all enjoy. As replays showed though, Mudu's head appeared to make contact with Babaev's chin, contributing to the devastating blow.  

"Can’t remember a bigger shot. This is next level," tweeted Maloney. 

After we retweeted it on twitter, there were a number of complaints, mainly saying that the commentators (and perhaps, us too) were glorifying illegal tackles. 

WATCH: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE USA'S INCREDIBLE WIN

There was a bit of a backlash, with one user saying "Disgraceful commentary" while another said "Commentator clearly not in the real world." Then another: "It’s head to chin. Why the living hell are you glorifying taking someone out with a head to the chin?"

Clearly Mudu's head did make contact with the chin, but with arms attemping to grasp and shoulders hitting below the neckline, was it an illegal tackle or simply an unfortunate outcome?

Let us know what you think, as opinions on this one vary.

Posted By: Grant Constable

26 Comments

  • 10stonenumber10
    11:38 PM 11/03/2018

    William Webb-Ellis University, first seminar was back in 1994.

    "Rugby lad" is not a compliment. "Rugby player" is.

  • 11:01 PM 11/03/2018

    You should be ashamed for criticizing the people that have given you a forum to express your opinion.

  • drg
    5:08 PM 10/03/2018

    Issue I have overall 1010 is that the rugby universe is a business nowadays, a business that wants to make money, also doesn't want to get sued etc.. the general public who have no knowledge of the game will pass comment that "oh it's so violent, I'm not interested" this generates talk of course, but it's still potentially negative talk... The rugby bosses will either have to decide whether to listen to the small rugby fans, or the large masses of soft public.

    Maybe you have a more.guided opinion of the outcome than myself, but are we likely to see suits making the best decisions for the player/fans? Or the best decisions for the bucks? I'm not sure whether history has told us one way or another...

    Or to delve further how long before the rugby universe starts getting squeezed by officials outside the rugby universe who have to appeal to the masses?

    Negative news regardless of how close or distant can impact greatly depending on which group decides to use it further their point...

  • 10stonenumber10
    12:47 PM 10/03/2018

    "WARNING TO ALL PARENTS. IF YOUR CHILD PLAYS RUGBY, THEIR CHIN MAY BE LIGHTLY BRUSHED BY THE TOP OF SOMEONE'S HEAD IN THE MIDST OF A VIOLENT BONE JARRING COLLISION WITH A FULL GROWN ADULT. THIS WILL HAPPEN IN THEIR NEXT U8 TAG RUGBY TOURNAMENT, AND THE REFEREE WILL STAND OVER YOUR CHILD AND LAUGH. THEIR LIFE WILL CHANGE INSTANTLY. BEFORE YOU KNOW IT THEY WILL BE SNORTING HEROIN AND INJECTING MARIJUANAS, COMMITTING DRIVE-THRUS WHILE LISTENING TO THAT GANGSTA AMERICAN HOP-SCOTCH MUSIC. CENSOR RUGBY AND SAVE THE NEXT GENERATION."

  • 10stonenumber10
    12:41 PM 10/03/2018

    The video headlines are getting more clickbaity, it is why I don't frequent this site anywhere near as often as I used to.

    Mass media is the same. Hundreds of stories each day about celebrities Twitter ramblings, and reactions from people who aren't anybody. We are being told what to think by "approved societal influencers" before we have even read it. There used to be legislation against this kind of sensationalist rubbish, we are presented with opinions before any fact.

  • colombes
    11:14 AM 10/03/2018

    Nice tackle below shoulders
    Unfortunate head contact in the move
    Lets just not mention the "outraged" keyboard army in a blog where they should not be even mentionned.

    But it also raises another debate on the rugby "specialists" or former rugby players/managers Twitter reactions who like to react on everything and nothing... during a game.

  • im1
    10:38 AM 10/03/2018

    i think the point some are trying to make here (which I agree with) is that the title should not have been 'Commentators accused of glorifying illegal play after this huge Fijian tackle'.

    It was a massive shot, an accident, and the commentators weren't necessarily to know that it was head on head. But there is always someone who likes to get offended an air their opinion on social media.

    Perhaps the title should be changed to 'Rugby ignorants who accused commentators of glorifying illegal play after this huge Fijian tackle proven wrong'.

  • 10stonenumber10
    10:27 AM 10/03/2018

    The General Public are making a mountain out of a molehill. The Rugby Public appreciate the rib tickler.

    The difference nowadays is that people have a public platform to voice their opinion.

    The News isn't about what has happened, nowadays it is about people's reactions to what has happened.

    Someone unrelated to Rugby taking offence on Twitter has made it into a headline post on a website dedicated to the brutal art of rib tickling.

    Their opinion doesn't matter, and it won't change a thing in the Rugby Universe, but it has created traffic.

  • rugbydump
    7:43 AM 10/03/2018

    QUICK FYI: There was no penalty, card or citing. All officials involved were satisfied that the tackle was legal (albeit unfortunate), so no further action was taken.

  • rugbydump
    7:42 AM 10/03/2018

    Not sure your comment makes sense. This post is mainly to show the tackle and B), to show some of the strange reactions to it (on twitter), building a discussion and getting other people's opinions. The rugby loving commentator is fully aware of it, as per our conversations before and since.

    So no, not ashamed and no, not removing your comment either (as you have since asked us to do). Let's leave it up here for a while, for the 'court of public opinion'.

  • drg
    2:27 AM 10/03/2018

    Remember those stories about how when your great grandad used to go out and fetch water for the week, he used to fight off snakes and various beasts, on an arduous journey that took perhaps a week only to return carrying both his horse and the contents of a medium sized river on his back...

    ...then your grandad used to do the same, but by this point he was carrying back his bicycle and a small rivers supply...

    ...then your dad was doing the same but it involved driving to the shop and driving back...

    ...well.... It's down to us now... We're the bunch of wankers who will moan if we turn the tap and the waters not instantly a comfortable temperature, heaven forbid we turn the tap and the water doesn't come out!!!

    I guess perhaps this is the realisation point that we should all be having about the world just not being quite as good as it used to be "back in my day" and no one is as tough as the predecessors.... I frankly didn't think I'd reach that point at this age (shy of being a 90's kid) and I certainly didn't expect it to be such a drastic change of worldwide castrations for all... although having said that, judging by the hard bastards that play in the women's game I'd say maybe we're even evolving so that women carry a set of balls, that way as men we can all find a snuggly safe space to curl up with a duvet, watch a romcom and turn into a giant set of fucking pansies*

    *Not that I object to much of the R&R of the duvet and safe space above, but clearly the world is driving us towards something ridiculous and as a now old timer I will not go quietly into the night...

  • drg
    10:58 PM 09/03/2018

    Fun fact, I've never covered myself in kebab or vomit!

  • 10stonenumber10
    9:39 PM 09/03/2018

    That was to CC. I'd imagine a devout rugby lad such as yourself would be too drunk/covered in vomit/kebab to make it past the bouncers in the first place!

  • drg
    8:13 PM 09/03/2018

    I assume your comment is to CC and not me...

    .... although your last sentence is probably applicable to me... especially the shite that's blasted out these days..

  • 45678
    7:41 PM 09/03/2018

    Always managed to keep the aggression between the white lines although much better at getting hit than fighting

    I agree with you about the rugby scraps though. No one ever really got hurt. Lots of windmills and pushing. The malicious stuff tended to happen during the game not in scuffles

  • 10stonenumber10
    6:47 PM 09/03/2018

    The head on the chin is fairly inconsequential. At no point in the replays does the Russian guy hold his head/face... which is usually the first reaction to getting head butted at 1,000,000,000mph. He's flat on his back gasping for air, not unconscious. He had the wind (and 7 shovels of sh*t) knocked out of him.

    As for bringing people to this sport... you seem like the kind of guy to go to a nightclub and complain it is too loud and dark.

  • drg
    6:28 PM 09/03/2018

    I have all my own teeth and they're all in the right place, no cauliflower ears (thank the scrum cap god's for that), my nose, although not perfect due to a variation of fists, knees, heads and anything else connecting with it is still symmetrical (Not done a BOD or Tindall)...

    ....that being said, second row/back row, so my boyish good looks probably disappeared in my first senior game.

    Scrapping in bars yehh not for all and not a regular occurrence, but I can't deny it didn't happen... although to be totally honest things like that tend to be more like rugby scraps, posturing, mouthing, pushing no one getting a decent shot off...and everyone getting sent home early and banned from venues for a week or two... Call it money management perhaps?

  • drg
    3:45 PM 09/03/2018

    Why not? Why wouldn't you include that? Are we better off telling people that when they step off the pitch after a game they'll feel 10 years younger, won't have any risks of injuries...

    Won't run the risk of a permanent injury to any part of your body as a result of playing the game?

    That is exactly what can happen, so why suggest otherwise..

    How can you surely suggest that we start everyone guessing everything. The other day we had a video of a lock running with his head at the same height as a small blokes hip... and we argue that that's a penalty if not more these days... now we have a player running at a relatively normal height and he cuts back in and gets a head on his chin. Both incidents happened during legal plays and both can't even be classed as reckless, they're accidents...

  • drg
    10:44 AM 09/03/2018

    Yeh, we should ban punching in boxing, it's too violent, racist, misogynistic, fascist, homophobic, xenophobic, et fucking c...

  • drg
    10:43 AM 09/03/2018

    I'm getting so done with this BS...

    I come from the RD era of TSRB's, I grew up wanting to play the game hard. Comparing battle scars, putting everything on the line (at an amateur level), then enjoying a good piss up, occasional tussle in the bars, ending the night either puking in a bog or stuffing my face with a takeaway source of much needed nutrients, protein and muscle food....or both...

    Don't get me wrong, the health benefits of not eating a load of takeaway, drinking a ton of booze and getting in tussles is wondrous...The demise of those aspects of the game can be attributed to age, and heh, maturity, so I'm willing to assign those to the golden era, but the demise of the hard game is something I detest and hate.

    Yes, no one wants a head injury, no one wants a spinal injury...but who are we kidding? Front rows have had close to life ending injuries from scrum collapses, certainly life changing injuries, the game is a bloody violent game.

    ah bollocks to it, I can't even be fk'd with these guys wanting to 'clean up the sport', I'll start watching UFC or playing league or something at this rate...

  • 10stonenumber10
    10:24 AM 09/03/2018

    How is this any different to commentators talking about an ice hockey check? Or NFL commentators describing a brutal QB sacking? Or Boxing/UFC hyping up a KO?

    The laws of the game require some experience to understand. Planting someone into the turf doesn't. Destructive tackling helps make the sport of rugby relatable to the outside world.

    Commentators are experienced enough to know when something serious has happened. You can gauge severity by the players reactions. Play stopped for a line out, not the hit.

  • peetwindhoek
    6:58 AM 09/03/2018

    Solid legal tackle

  • josefamatau
    2:49 AM 09/03/2018

    For me, The tackle was good. Look at the angle, the tackle had to slip up but that came later. There are too many armchair critics who if they have their way, will turn rugby union let alone 7s into a game for softies. Even Women's Rugby looks tougher nowadays. A

  • butch
    12:20 AM 09/03/2018

    Huge tackle... absolutely brutal but all legal... unfortunate if head made contact but never the intention... if this is viewed illegal we may as well resort to touch rugby

  • p_mawi
    10:15 PM 08/03/2018

    Good tackle. Good game too!

  • 45678
    8:33 PM 08/03/2018

    Good tackle. Absolutely nothing malicious about it. Impossible to remove contact from a contact sport

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