chaplin

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

"How much pain can you be in?"

Today Josh Lewsey announced his retirement from international rugby. This is a good enough excuse to show this clip of his tackle on Matt Rogers, my favourite moment in the entire history of England/Australia sport. I particularly love the way the Australian commentator laughs.

4 comments:

  1. Some of us claim Lewsey as a Welshman (which I believe he is by blood and birth) who got lost on the way to top class rugby and would up playing for the Saes.

    I would add Gavin Henson's tackle on Matthew Tait to the pantheon of great hits, albeit Henson makes the huge hit seem somehow balletic as opposed to primarily brutal.

    I've tried adding the video but cant - here is the clip...
    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kzN8Hg7yCkE
    NB The second hit is better than the first.

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  2. I think I'm right in saying Lewsey was born and raised in England. He could have qualified for Wales through his mother.

    In the case of the Tait hit the victim got up pretty quickly. Unlike Rogers, who even had to give up surfing as a consequence.

    Isn't brutality wonderful?

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  3. You'll enjoy this David, even though it's rugby league and from 1983. The smile from the referee and the bloke in the crowd shouting "beautiful" over and over again makes it even better.

    Essentially, the Queensland players (in claret) had already got rid of two Hull KR (in red) players through dirty tactics, so a spot of revenge was in order...

    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=62XSX_w8aQk

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  4. There's a great book by my favourite sports writer, John Feinstein, called 'The Punch'. It tells the story of Kermit Washington and Rudy Tomjanovich, two NBA players. The former punched the latter during a game in 1977, fracturing his skull. It's a brutal moment (the incident is shown in this video), and greatly affected the subsequent careers of both men.

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