A series of cheap shots on players in vulnerable positions? Or perfectly legal, but brutal, tackles designed to intimidate ballplayers from straying too close to the defensive line?
That’s the debate raging about Chiefs and All Black flanker Samipeni Finau after he flattened Waratahs No.10 Tane Edmed in a thumping tackle early in the Chiefs’ win at Allianz Stadium on Friday night.
Waratahs no.10 Tane Edmed is smashed by Chiefs flanker Samipeni Finau.Credit: Stan Sport
In the third minute, Edmed took a pass and just after he passed it away to his right, 115kg Finau flew into the NSW No.10 and hit him shoulder height. Edmed was rocked so hard he lay on the ground and got treatment, before eventually getting up.
Match officials reviewed the incident and no action was taken, meaning they believed it wasn’t too late or too high, and that Finau had attempted to wrap his arms around Edmed, and not led with a shoulder.
Super Rugby Pacific’s own social media account celebrated the big hit, but debate raged online about Finau’s hit, and the fact the 24-year-old has made it a habit this season to shoot up and rock No.10s with late, slightly high tackles after they have passed and are turning away.
Already this year, Finau has smashed Queensland’s Tom Lynagh, ACT’s Noah Lolesio and William Havili of Moana Pasifika in almost identical fashion, and only the Lynagh one was penalised.
Asked about the Edmed tackle post-game, Waratahs coach Darren Coleman said he hadn’t had time to review it again and so had to trust the match officials’ call.
“It doesn’t look good. The protection of the passer, I think Les (Kiss) said something about this (after the Lynagh hit), the timing might have been right. Did he get a wrap? Is there a genuine arm wrap? I don’t know,” Coleman said.
“They all looked at it, the TMO had a look at it and none of them had an issue. They’re the ones that adjudicate. I don’t have the expertise to go against them, but it hurt. It would have hurt poor Tane. He (Finau) has done a few of them this year.
“I am always concerned by player safety, and to see Tane on the ground like that isn’t good. I am not going to come out with crazy statements and make a headline, because I don’t know if it was illegal.
“I do know in rugby league they definitely protect the kicker, and there are times there where it’s not too different where a ballplayer pulls off the ball and is not moving forward and is not braced for contact, how you adjust that? I don’t know. I don’t have the answer right here and now. It might be worth looking at.”
Siding nearer to the half of the online debate that celebrated Finau’s hit as a brilliant shot, Jake Gordon was of the view it is all part of rugby.
“That’s the risk. It is a contact sport. If you take it to the line, there is always that risk you are going to get hit. It is a real hard one to police. Heat of the moment and you are a metre from a guy and you don’t know if he is going to dummy, you are taught to tackle the guy if he is going to take it to the line,” Gordon said.
“I would have have to have a look at it but its simultaneous and he is wrapping, that’s rugby a little bit.”
Samipeni Finau of the Chiefs.Credit: Getty
Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan said he was pleased with the tackle, believed it was clean and applauded Edmed for getting back on his feet. He said it wasn’t a deliberate strategy coached by the Chiefs for Finau to hunt down No.10s.
Of more concern for McMillan is the potential for one of Finau’s flying monster-shots to go wrong, given he is hitting people so close to the line of a high tackle. It would not take much in the way of error for Finau to not only see a red card, but potentially cause a serious head injury to a No.10 as well.
“We’re talking about a difference of about that much (10cm),” McMillan said, adding he’d spoken with the flanker about the risks of his style.
“Yeah, he’s got an acute awareness around the small margins and he could be off the field (if he gets it wrong). He’s an important player for us, so he needs to get it right.”
NRL legend Andrew Johns often talks about the danger of hitting playmakers after they have passed the ball, often from behind, given they are not bracing for the contact.
Queensland coach Les Kiss said Super Rugby Pacific needed to crack down on late hits like Finau’s, saying playmakers needed to be protected.
“If you pass the ball and two seconds later you’re getting hit, I think you should be protected and that’s the main focus,” Kiss said. “If that’s becoming a trend we’ve got to stamp on straight away because what you permit, you promote.”
Asked if he felt it was a dangerous tackle on a player who was vulnerable, McMillan said there is a tricky balance between players needing to be physically dominant but also play within the parameters of safety.
“I think the game’s never been safer in terms of the laws and the awareness around contact and contact around the head,” he said.
“It’s a fine line. It’s a brutal sport at times. You don’t want to suppress your players from trying to physically dominate those collisions, but there is a responsibility on them all to make sure that they’re accurate and sometimes they get it wrong and they pay a heavy price individually and collectively. Absolutely we don’t want that to happen, safety is always paramount but we don’t want to suppress them from going out there and being physical.”
Coleman agreed, saying deliberate, physical aggression is part of rugby.
“There is an intimidatory aspect to the game. You want a scrum and a maul, there are forces in that that you want to intimidate the opposition, if a player is jackling on your ball you want to clean him out with genuine vigour to deter him from doing that,” he said.
“The big physical players, their job is to deter the smart quarterbacks to not take it into the line so deep. I definitely don’t want to come across I am unsympathetic to Tane, I have to protect Tane and I am conscious of that.
“I just haven’t watched it enough. I have to trust the officials, four of them seen it, one of them multiple times on replay. And for them to not say it is illegal, at this stage I have to support them.”
