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Thu 18 Apr 2013 | 11:18
Richard Kahui's huge hit on Ben Tapuai in Hamilton

21
Comments

Richard Kahui has made a succesful return to Super Rugby following 10 months on the sidelines with a shoulder injury. Against the Reds he showed that the shoulder is strong again, and if he stays fit we may well see him playing for the All Blacks vs France.

The Reds scored four tries to two to beat the Chiefs 31-23 in Waikato, but it was Kahui who put in the hit of the match as he smashed Ben Tapuai.

Kahui read play well and lined up Tapuai, hitting him just as the Reds centre offloaded on the inside. It looked a bit high in the replay perhaps, but there was a lot of shoulder on chest, and it was definitely one of the biggest hits of the season either way.

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen will have taken note of Kahui's performance ahead of the three match Test series with France in June. While Kahui is heading off to Japan at the end of the season, he may well be selected to play in the midfield, or if Hansen has his way, as cover on the wing.

"Personally I think his best position internationally is on the wing," Hansen said recently.

"His skills set is such that he's great under the high ball. He's a big ball carrier and he gets the opportunity on the wing to roam. He's a great counter attacker and he's got a good boot. As a back-three player he's ideal. That doesn't rule him out from being a midfielder, either, because he's high quality there too."

The 27-year-old says that he'd like to be part of the 2015 Rugby World Cup setup too, but acknowledges that he'll need to work hard to make sure he is still on top of his game. "The level of rugby, while it's not bad, is not Super Rugby, and you can easily fall behind with your skills.

"If it happens I come back and give that World Cup a crack, I'm going to have to make sure over the time I'm away that I'm playing really well and working hard in the gym and other areas so I don't fall behind," he said, adding that if not pushed to the highest standard, it could be a problem.

"They're open to foreign players coming back, but there's a huge risk factor for guys that go away."

The huge hit is below. Do you think Kahui should play for the All Blacks this year?

Posted By: Grant Constable

21 Comments

  • drg
    3:00 PM 21/04/2013

    Nope, no desire to "type" Russian as I don't know how...I can say a few things but you won't hear them.. Good on your club, hope they enjoy my comments although perhaps training would be more beneficial...

    As for me, I need to get Tiddlywink practice underway.

  • drg
    8:06 PM 20/04/2013

    Yeh, my team are some of the toughest tiddlywinkers around! I'm sidelined at the moment though, I had to have a couple stitches because a stray tiddlywink caught me across the cheek! Hence why I'm on here so much.

    But of course I can tell you're held in high regard on this public website which thrives on traffic and encourages comments, so perhaps we should all just leave here and not comment so the website becomes defunct, good plan Einstein.

    Oh and whilst we are all making suggestions regarding what others do, I suggest you go back to school and learn the difference between "you're" and "your", not to mention fixing your inability to hit the "reply" button.

    Kisses to you Craig! xxx

    *sidenote, and errors in that lot ^^ are my phones fault, not mine.

  • matt
    9:51 PM 19/04/2013

    You ought to watch your sarcasm, this lad is on first name terms with Kahui, he might send him round to teach you some manners.

  • matt
    9:49 PM 19/04/2013

    A La Sonny Will Billiams?
    Switching to league isnt going to help you if you're looking to charge...

  • drg
    9:23 PM 19/04/2013

    Yeh you're right, I've never played a single game. It's too rough for me, I prefer tiddlywinks as long as I have a couple pairs of goggles on.

  • drg
    6:52 PM 19/04/2013

    LMAO XD ....

  • jimothy
    3:02 PM 19/04/2013

    How do you delete a comment when you realise you've just made a t**t of yourself :)

  • jimothy
    2:59 PM 19/04/2013

    How can you possibly tell who is and isn't from the NH? What an idiotic comment to make!!!! As a matter of fact I am from the NH and I think this is a perfectly timed tackle and there is nothing wrong with it.

    As for rewarding the attacking team by letting forward passes go! It is all good as long as it's your team attacking right? Another idiotic comment. Remove the rules and the game you're playing is no longer rugby. Hey, why don't we introduce forward passing, allow blocking and wear pads...oh wait!

  • 2:34 PM 19/04/2013

    There's a minor attempt to wraP with his left arm, none at all with his right, which is hanging down allowing his shoulder to be more compact, a la shoulder charge.

    And Jon, as a Canadian, yes that technically means I live in the northern hemisphere. But If you've ever watched any team Canada rugby, you'd know that this type of hit is pretty typical for a canadian. We come from a shoulder charging sporting culture of hockey (note not ice hockey) and football. I've thrown plenty of shoulder charges, though none that spectacular, and know when one is being disguised as a tackle (a la swb). Perhaps the right game for u is league.

  • drg
    11:47 AM 19/04/2013

    Totally agree with you Jon. Those Northern hemisphere fans are ridiculous, they always look for forward passes in great passages of play when if we let them go then the game looks prettier, and in anyway, if the attacking team is attacking strongly then why not reward them by letting a couple forward passes and a bit of crossing go. The game flows so much better when the referee and those nosey NH fans keep their big noses out of the game.

  • drg
    11:44 AM 19/04/2013

    I hate jumping in with this shoulder/no shoulder, wrap/no wrap shit. Of course we all know when someone says "leading with the shoulder" they mean arms tucked in shoulder hitting. I of course lead with my shoulder into a tackle, just not in the way others mean, we all know the first point of contact is generally the shoulder, the arms then wrap and you; more often than not, go down with the player to constitute "holding them" so they do not carry on (as if not held!).

    What I saw here was perhaps not as "calculated" as I might make out, but it was definitely a tackle where no effort was made to wrap, anyone with a brain cell could tell that little tap with the left hand does not constitute an "effort to wrap", Kahui knows it as do most others. What he has done, perhaps by mistake, is ticked the box for a technically legal tackle:

    Below shoulder? Y
    Man had ball? Y
    Man on the ground? Y
    Attempt to wrap?..if you call a feeble little tap an attempt, then Y...

    So yes, whilst all the boxes are ticked, there is still no way I'm buying it.

    As I say, it sounds like I'm making it out to be hugely calculated, when in actual fact I think it is actually a lack of effort in some parts. I don't buy the "he hit him so hard the guy just bounced off" stuff.

    Brilliant "tackle" to see, great defence seeing as he got away with it, and a great player.

  • 5:40 AM 19/04/2013

    In my younger days when I tried to lay hits like that, I'd say fair Play to kahui, big contact that's all. But I'd know that I was makIng no attempt to wrap and was Only looking for the big impact. After 21 years in the game we all love I know that that type of hit does nothing but bad things for both the distributor and the recipients health. Looks cool, great on tv, feels good to kahui at the time, but could lead to serious injury for tapui and kahui too if his head gets in the wrong Place. I like a real tough, hard game better than anyone, but I like players walking off the field better. Penalty at the least, yellow at the most, no citing needed.

  • matt
    1:31 AM 19/04/2013

    As I said above the idea of wrapping your arms is just to ensure people aren't forming their bodies up into missiles and using the hardest parts to hit people. The fact that he has tackled with an open front is enough to achieve this, and makes it a 'safe' tackle.

  • matt
    1:28 AM 19/04/2013

    I agree, the wrapping the arms requirement is designed to stop players from putting their arm across their own chest in order to compact the shoulder joint and muscles (ala Nonu on Wepu a few weeks ago), if you do this then your body compresses far less in the tackle and becomes dangerous, that is why they want players to attempt to wrap their arms. Simply tackling with your arms stuck out at the side would achieve the same result, but you'd look like a twat.

  • frenchie
    12:37 AM 19/04/2013

    Totally illegal tackle

  • totesmcgoates
    12:28 AM 19/04/2013

    Reminds me of the Palu hit on Kearney from a few years ago. Cliffy was yellow carded for that one even though there was more of an attempt to use arms in the tackle. I'm on the fence on this one. On one hand, it's great to watch. On the other, I'm reminded of Master Yoda; "Do or do not, there is no try". If the law says to use arms, attempting and failing is probably not good enough.

  • poccio
    9:09 PM 18/04/2013

    personally i think if anything it was a bit high, but i guess it's borderline and fortunatly tapuai wasn't injured...play on!

  • browner
    6:22 PM 18/04/2013

    It's the law makers fault, there is no reward for going low anymore. Tacklers are dissadvantaged, so the only 'ball dislodging' reward is hit high-hit hard.

    The game is worse for the gym born exocets hitting in this way !

  • 6:04 PM 18/04/2013

    Stop looking for problems where there isn't one! Have you people ever played rugby??

    Kahui has been on fire in the past few games.

  • 5:52 PM 18/04/2013

    All Black for sure, would think that Freun should be in with a shout too. ABs are never short on talent are they?
    Was this tackle a little high? Am I going to get slated for even suggesting that??? :D
    Oh well....

  • ithilsul
    5:50 PM 18/04/2013

    That's what I was about to say. I wonder what the referee (or citing commissioner) would have said, should Tapuai have been knocked-out following that "tackle"...
    Great sacrifice by Tapuai anyway.

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