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England duo Tuilagi, Lawes named in magazine's Top 12 Hitters list
Four current players were included in the Top 12 Hitters list recently published by Rugby World magazine. England duo Manu Tuilagi and Courtney Lawes, Argentina’s Marcos Kremer and Pieter-Steph du Toit, the Springboks back-rower who was named player of the match in the 2023 Rugby World Cup final, joined eight retired players in a selection featuring the sport’s most ferocious defenders.
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The retired Samoa trio Trevor Leota, Brian Lima and Maurie Fa’asavalu, France’s Sebastien Chabal, South Africa’s Schalk Burger, Scotland’s Jason White, New Zealand’s Jerry Collins and Namibia’s Jacques Burger all made the list of “howitzers who have decimated ball-carriers”.
Explaining their idea, Rugby World wrote: “We have all seen the big hits that make you wince; the thundering shoulder that cuts an attacker in half and has the crowd collectively giving it an ‘Oooh!’ All legal, all-out mayhem. And it’s part of the game we love.
“But who is the all-time master? We have run through the names from Pieter-Steph du Toit to Chabal and Collins. Putting these monsters in any sort of order could be folly – so just enjoy the savagery of all in any order you like.”
The list started with Chabal, who was “capable of carnage, a big fan of it in fact”. Next up was Tuilagi: “He is a devastating carrier in top form, but the defensive side of his game is just as brutal”. Leota was described as an “Exocet missile”, with Schalk Burger named as a guy who “loved confrontation”.
Ready to tackle a new weekend ?#InvestecChampionsCup | @Manutuilagi | @SaleSharksRugby pic.twitter.com/Ve2grmXES5
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) December 15, 2023
Lima’s snippet was accompanied by four pictures of the “masterpiece” that was his 2003 shot on South Africa’s Derick Hougaard, White was recognised for “bone-crunching hits”, Fa’asavalu for being “horrible to play against”, and Collins as “pound for pound, he hit harder than anyone”.
Kremer was lauded for breaking the World Cup record for most tackles in the tournament, topping the chart with 92 at France 2023, nine more than Taulupe Faletau’s 2011 record of 83.
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The list then ended with Lawes, “the nemesis of every fly-half”, Jacques Burger, who once made “a shoulder-melting 37 tackles” in a game for Saracens versus Exeter, and du Toit, the “Malmesbury Missile” feted by Rassie Erasmus for “putting the opposition on their backsides”.
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Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
43 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
3 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
43 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
43 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
3 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
6 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
2 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
6 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to comments