by Simon Wright

Created on: March 16, 2009

In the 1995 Rugby World Cup, New Zealand unleashed rugby sensation Jonah Lomu upon the world. Lomu was six foot five and weighed in at about nineteen stone. This was not particularly unusual in rugby except for the fact that he was a winger and could run the one hundred metres in some ridiculously fast time. He proceeded to light up the tournament, terrorising opposition defences with his unique combination of speed and power. One of the most iconic images from that tournament was of Lomu running through the challenges of English players Tony Underwood, Will Carling and Mike Catt to score one of his four tries in the semi final. As they were bulldozed out of the way, those English players must have asked themselves how they could have tackled him?

It's obviously very difficult if you have an opponent bearing down on you of the proportions of a Jonah Lomu. However, the basics of tackling in rugby are the same whether you're facing someone who is twenty stone or ten stone. Amongst the first words of wisdom that school coaches invariably convey to kids are the necessity to tackle low and hard. The principle is that if you wrap your arms around your opponent's ankles, then even Goliath will come crashing down. On the other hand, if you go to high and get them around the hips then they may be strong enough to career onwards, dragging you in their wake!

It's not just as simple as going low and hard, however. You also have to use your arms when making the tackle. Indeed the International Rugby Board's rules state that the tackling player "has to attempt to wrap their arms around the player being tackled to complete the tackle". This might seem very obvious but is a point that has at times had to be enforced by referees in order to maintain a degree of safety in the game. Indeed, I heard an anecdote that the tough tackling Tongans liked to launch themselves into tackles head first, with their arms tucked into their sides, and that this (in part) had caused the rules to be tightened.

We've seen, then, that the tackling player needs to launch himself (or herself) low and hard towards their opponent and wrap their arms around the opponent's lower legs. (You can also tackle them around the waist but it's less effective). It's also important, however, to do so in a manner that is going to minimize your own chances of getting hurt. Invariably, this means trying to ensure that your head doesn't make a jarring contact with the opponents legs or (worse still) their hip. Practice

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>